Present Hope
by Ceasefire
Summary: [DISCONTINUED] The Holy Beings are trying to protect the source of their power, known as the Star, and they know exactly where and how to hide it, and of course, it's to do with Rei and Mao.RxM MxE KxOC TxH DxG OCxOC OCxOC[Language, lime, violence]
1. An interesting night

Kitty: Well, here it is! Present Hope! (O, how original)

The bit-beast world is in disarray; three artificially created bit beasts and their human masters, which have me modified in the same way, are destroying it. The bit beasts have called a council, which has not happened in nearly a millennium...

Galux walked into the large, blindingly white hall, squinting against the glare that was shining into her sensitive eyes. Her tail flicked softly against the frame of the door she was standing in, and without any hesitation, stepped into the large hall, which was completely circular in shape, and her elongated claws clicked softly against the hard ground under her feet.

Galux sat down in front of the large, shining mass and stared and it, as if in deep concentration on the matter of what the thing was, or perhaps just what was wrong with it, as it kept flickering into dimness once every few seconds, before seemingly making a huge effort and re-igniting itself. The mountain's cat's brow furrowed very slightly, and she began to slowly mutter to herself.

"Its power is still weakening... what are we supposed to do about it...?"

"I don't know."

The masculine voice echoed from behind her and she spun around to make eye contact with the large black and white striped beast behind her, and her eyes shone out of a mixture of surprise and pure happiness.

"Driger!"

Driger had begun his trek towards the smaller-framed female bit beast, but had been halted when she took an almighty leap and engulfed him in a sort of playful tackle. Eventually it began to get a little rougher, and Driger managed to pin the small mountain cat underneath him. He then lifted his paw, as if he was going to strike her and she crushed her face into a sort of wince, but he smirked and leaned down, softly licking her cheek with his rough tongue.

"Hello, my little mountain cat," he smirked, before Galux snarled, and made the obvious effort of throwing him off and getting back onto her four feet and turned away from him, flicking her long tail and smirking in return.

"Little, did you say?"

Driger simply blinked his large green eyes at her and flopped down on the cool marble floor. Galux padded over also and flopped down beside him, snuggling up to his warmth and licking his cheek softly.

"So, where have you been as of late?" she questioned.

"Here, guarding the Star," he muttered, gazing up at the bright orb in the center of the room. Galux frowned in return.

"What's the point? We won't be able to stop this impending storm by ourselves anyway..."

"Surprisingly, Dranzer still wants us to try," Driger sighed before continuing, "I think he needs to learn that you can't win every battle you fight."

"His arrogance will be his downfall," snapped Galux.

"I do not think so."

Galux's electric blue eyes (AN: Well, they look blue in a picture I have) shot up and narrowed into a glare at the large red phoenix that had just perched high up and well out of their reach, on the windowsill. He ruffled his ultra-red feather and a few embers shot from under his down against his will, and slowly floated down to rest near the front paws of the two large felines, which were resting side by side on the floor. Dranzer's expression became reproving as he looked down on the two beasts under his gaze.

"I don't appreciate my comrades becoming caught up in emotion."

Galux snarled angrily at the Phoenix, but was halted when she recognized her cubs' presence coming nearer. The three Mystics entered the room and noticed their parents viciously glaring up at the red Phoenix.

Dranzer spread its wings in a show of attempted intimidation but said nothing. The six Holy Beings simply stood in silence and looked back and forth from one another. Draciel and Trygator entered the room and joined in the uncomfortable silence. Dranzer opened its sharp beak to attempt to say something, but suddenly turned around and inhaled sharply through its nostrils as Dragoon charged through the window and knocked him off his perch.

Dranzer flapped his broad wings to regain his composure and glared at the azure dragon, so had just curled up into what looked like an uncomfortable position to be in due to the limited space.

"We must decide what we are going to do about this threat," stated Dragoon, the obvious protagonist.

"But where exactly are we supposed to take the Star? We cannot leave it here..." murmured Mysticala, sitting in a cramped position between the coils of Dragoon's frame.

"I say we move it," Draciel stated, and Trygator nodded in agreement.

"To where exactly?" snapped Dranzer.

"I know where."

All eight bit beasts spun around, and came face to face with the golden shimmering form of the Kintora spirit.

"What are you doing here?" Dragoon questioned.

"We're not supposed to be here but we are, so let's make this a little more simplistic. We live in the human world as the three children of Driger and Galux's masters, so technically the Star should be able to do the same, regardless of how weak its power has been lately."

"Move the Star into the human world? You are crazy! It will be in more danger there than it is here!"

"Due to what, exactly?"

"At least with the star here, we will be able to keep an eye on it. Humans are a weak species..." Kintora snarled and its ears became pinned to its head, but Dranzer ignored the creature's anger and continued.

"... And they will not be able to do as good a job as we are, even with our strength diminishing."

"I say we let Galux take it," stated Driger, glancing at his mate who gave him an inquiring look in reply.

"She's faster than any of us. She could outrun even the genetically enhanced bit-beasts."

Dragoon nodded his head in agreement and grabbed what they referred to as 'The Star' to the small mountain cat bit beast.

"Wait just a moment," Dranzer snapped, "Dragoon, you are no fool... I think you should choose a bit beast that has more strength than this weakling."

Galux snarled angrily and every singular hair on her back stood up in anger.

"If you were courageous enough to come down and face me, I would beat and pluck every bright red feather from your hide," she snarled.

"If you did that, Galux, he would look like a plucked chicken and would no longer have the fearful respect he forcefully earns," smirked Driger, and Dranzer shot him a dangerous looking glare which Driger returned with equal ferocity.

Dragoon sighed and simply shoved the bright orb into Galux's jaws, and she mumbled her thanks against it. A sudden bang was heard from outside and three shadowed figures entered the room and the bit beasts jumped up in anticipation for battle.

"Galux! Go now!" snapped Dragoon.

Galux didn't need to be told twice. She took a huge leap off her back legs and sprinted out of the door at full speed, with all the other Holy Beings following her lead, minus Dragoon and Kintora. She assumed that Kintora had gone towards its own timeline and Dragoon was trying to hold the offenders off. Suddenly an unknown creature tackled her from the side and she let out an angry hiss as she bared her teeth and slashed at it in fury. Driger dashed forward, raised his paw and knocked the offender clean off the small bit beast.

"Get going!" he snapped and she nodded and continued running at a fast pace towards the bit beast/human dimensional rift.

She finally saw the deep rainbow coloured rift and felt a rush of air as the other bit beasts caught up with her. She then threw the Star into the dimensional rift firmly and it seemingly dissolved against the vivid colours.

"Why the Hell did you do that?" snapped Dranzer.

"Our masters looked after the Kintora... I am sure they will be able to look after this, too," Galux stated simply.

Suddenly, Galux's sensitive ears picked up rustling sounds from behind the small group of bit beasts, and spun around. The intruders had surrounded them. They backed away from them, going inward until they had trapped themselves by each other's bodies. A dark figure stepped through the mass of weak henchmen at his disposal and grinned. His sharp white teeth glinted in the jaded moonlight.

"You first."

The henchmen attacked and the eight bit beasts flew through the air and into the dimensional rift.

And far away, in that particular dimension, eight people woke up to the flash of bright lights and an extremely loud bang.

Mariah screamed and sat bolt upright at the sound of the loud banging noise that had echoed throughout she and Ray's bedroom but microseconds beforehand. She looked violently from side-to-side, but stopped when she noticed the small, ginger-haired woman sitting naked beside her bed.

She looked human but... she couldn't possibly be human, after taking a second glance at her.

Although the woman's hair was ginger, it had deep black rosette patterns strewn throughout its abnormally long tresses. Her eyes were also a complete and violent electric blue colour, aside from the large black pupils in the middle of her eyes. Mariah also noticed now, after glaring hard through the darkness, that he had barely noticeable cat-like ears poking through her hair. Something moved in a snake-like slither in the dark and Mariah also realized the female in front of her also had a tail. Her skin also had an inhuman white glow to it and her finger and toenails were extremely long.

"Ray..."

No response.

"Ray!" she snapped at her fiancé, but once again got no response. She unwillingly tore her eyes off the strange intruder and realized Ray was also staring at something or someone that was on the floor on his side of the bed. She leaned over, resting her hand against Ray's side and realized his eyes were almost bugging out of his head.

A white-glowing male was sitting next to the bed, his large green eyes almost dwarfing the rest of his face by comparison. His pale skin was illuminated by the glow and so was his white hair, which had strong streaks of dark darted through it in an asymmetrical pattern. He also had a long black and white tail and pointed cat ears sticking through his hair, which was, if it was at all possible, longer than Ray's. He also had long toenails and fingernails, and was extremely large in frame compared to the other, who was beside that, close to his likeness.

The female jumped onto the bed and sniffed the air in a determined manor, breaking Mariah and Ray's attention from the other strange human-like form.

"It appears we have been knocked into the dimensional rift," she muttered, obviously addressing her partner. He nodded and also made a catlike jump onto the bed, causing Ray and Mariah's eyes to widen and both of them crawled up to the top of the bed and out of reach.

"I wonder where the others ended up..." murmured the male.

"Well, if we ended up here, it is almost be certain that we will know where they ended up..." she replied, and both of them glanced towards their masters, who were oblivious to their identities.

"Who exactly are you?" Mariah asked slowly, scared that if she spoke too quickly it would encourage then to attack.

"Driger and Galux," they stated simply. "And we must find out comrades."

The two bit beasts/people dashed out of the room on all fours and down the hallway. Mariah hesitated, and then cautiously followed. Even if they did claim that they were Driger and Galux, they couldn't exactly be sure, and who wouldn't be suspicious? Galux and Driger were bit-beasts, not humans! What if they went after the three kids? Mariah suddenly had the horrible feeling like she'd swallowed an ice-cube whole and it had slid uncomfortably into her stomach.

She got up and slipped her dressing gown on, and noticed that Ray was doing the same behind her.

They walked cautiously down the hallway, unaware of what had become of the two strange people. They knew their question was answered when they heard Tyson's surprised shout from down the hallway. They dashed to the room, their bare feet skidding against the polished floor and saw Tyson crouched in the corner of his room muttering something like, "Please don't eat me!"

The two 'humans' from before were there, but also another male with long, dark blue hair streaked with azure. He had large brown eyes and also had long fingernails and toenails, which were severed instead of the more clean-cut claws of the other two. This one didn't have a tail but had the same inhuman white glow about his skin.

They heard a cough from behind them and Emily and Max were there, with two more of the things, both seemingly of different gender. The one Ray and Mariah had assumed to be female had sandy-coloured hair, red eyes and black pupils, no tail and was rather large in frame. She has long fingernails and toenails but definitely not as long as the three aforementioned beings. The male had purple hair streaked with black, huge dark eyes and reasonably long nails. He was built in a stocky manor and once again, this one had not tail to speak of. When the female opened her mouth to smile she had much more teeth than the average human and all of them were long ad extremely sharp.

Max and Emily shrugged at the two people standing in front of them and looked on hopelessly as their two bit beasts joined the group to make it number five.

Mariah sighed; this was definitely going to be an interesting night.

There we go! Don't fret because next chap will be longer, and Kai and the Wonder Siblings will be in it, along with all the kids! So don't miss it! Make sure you review and tell me your opinions!


	2. A bit of a reunion and lots of kids

I don't own Beyblade, I own the Wonder Siblings and their bit beasts, also known as the three Mystics, and I own the storyline.

PRESENT HOPE

(A bit of a reunion, and lots of kids )

Last time: If you can't remember, you must have bad short-term memory. The bit beasts were attacked and forced into the human dimension, along with the protective force of their world known as the Central Star, AKA just 'the Star'. What will happen? Read on...

It was now morning, and the group of five human/bit beasts was sitting on the floor like animals, or more appropriately, how they were used to. Galux's tail flicked impatiently; their masters had forced them to be dressed in clothes, which they were definitely not used to- the material of the garments itched her skin.

The humans eyed their 'bit beasts', not really knowing what to say or do. Hell, they didn't even have proof that these really were their bit beasts!

"Go into your rooms, and look at your Beyblades bit chips," stated Driger simply, reading their minds. Ray blinked before complying; it seemed so weird to be ordered around by his own bit beast when he'd spent the majority of his years telling it what to do in battles...

Ray reached the room he and Mariah shared and the lock on the door across from theirs clicked open, revealing Trin. She yawned deeply and rubbed one of her eyes, while the other gazed questioningly at her father.

Trin was no longer small- she was nine, almost 10, but she still had that cute, childish aura glowing off her. Her bright red pigtails shimmered in the early morning light and curled down until they reached her waist. She had a pretty rounded face and pointed ears like her father, but unfortunately she seemed to have inherited her mother's impatience.

"What's wrong?" she snapped slightly, not really meaning to but not being able to help herself.

"Nothing..." Ray muttered, but he didn't sound terribly convincing. Trinity picked up the tone of guilt in his voice and glared.

"You suck at lying, Dad."

"I know..." Ray muttered, before walking into his room and staring pointedly at his bit chip.

Surprised to find it was a simple, clear, white colour without the White Tiger motif.

He literally fell stomach-down onto the bed and threw his hand out to grab Mariah's blade. Once he's managed to grab it, he flipped over onto his back to look at the bit chip. Sure enough, it was plain pink, with no mountain cat motif.

He pocketed both blades, before noticing his eldest daughter staring at him from the hallway.

He sighed and walked through the door, grabbing his daughter's hand in the process.

"Trinny, I need you to tell me something about these people in the lounge..."

Mariah's head jerked up when Ray and Trin entered the room. Ray was striding determinedly while yanking Trinity behind him, who was muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "I am not a tool, I am not a tool..."

Trinity and her brother and sister despised showing their more 'special qualities', preferring to appear as normal as possible and only using their strength, or their ability to read the power of and talk to other bit beasts when absolutely necessary. Everyone assumed this was because they had grown up in times of peace, and that showing your friends that you were considered by some to be freaks of nature wasn't an essential key to survival.

Trinity had shut her eyes prior to this moment, but the golden orbs suddenly shot open when she caught notion of the 'bit-humans' strength levels. She surveyed the five animal-like humans in front of her, and frowned, obviously furious about something.

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be guarding the Star!"

"What's the point?" questioned Dragoon.

"Our dimension has been taken over," sighed Galux.

"But don't worry... we found a safe place for the Star to reside," Driger stated, and all five bit-beasts gazes flickered momentarily to Ray and Mariah, who flinched very slightly at the sudden attention.

"Would you like to tell us exactly what's going on here?" asked Ray. Driger blinked and nodded sagely.

"Fine, I'll tell you."

Kai sat across from the four confused-looking glowing human shape things that were sitting on the more comfortable couch.

But they weren't human.

Trinity had known that straight off.

They were bit beasts.

Or, to be more accurate, their bit beasts; the three Mystics and Dranzer.

All three of the cat bit beasts had long hair, which was ginger, except Mysticia's, which was white, so it appropriately matched the colour of his, and indeed, all four of the bit beasts skin. All of them had black stripes through their hair, but these did not travel in a straight line. They zigzagged and curved in all directions, no none of the three were the same, and also marking their obvious decent from Driger. All three had blazing aquamarine eyes and rosette-dotted tails and ears, poking through their thick, unruly mops of hair. The two female bit beasts were tiny compared to their male next-of-kin. All three of them looked completely wild and had extremely long nails, which looked more like claws or talons.

However, Dranzer was the complete opposite to the three feline bit beasts sitting next to him. His fiery red tresses, although quite unkempt, were cut so they only reached halfway down his neck. His frame was neither large nor small, but he still radiated strength like the cat bit beasts next to him did not. His eyes were a ferocious orange colour, which shimmered and flickered in the light like fire. His nails were not long, in fact quite the opposite, but his fingers and toes seemed a little too long to make you believe he was truly human. His skin was the same creamy, shimmering white as the rest of the bit beasts.

Kai continued surveying these creatures, and they continued staring at him, unsure of what to make of the first human they'd truly met. Trinity entered the room, with the twins following her.

The twins, who were seven years old, weren't exactly the spitting image of either of their parents. The boy, it could be said, was more closely associated with his father. He had the same lone wolf nature, the dark red eyes, the dark blue hair, the non-caring, sour expression and his general dislike for 99 percent of things. He was also taller than his twin sister, who was rather small.

The girl had the slate-coloured hair from the front of her father's head, golden eyes and pointed ears. She was thin and rather short, but had the angelic, rounded face of her mother, which was nothing short of deceiving; she had earned herself a reputation for being a bit of a handful, which was definitely true. Compared to his sister, the boy was Jesus Christ himself. However, the thing that the twins had in common was the shark-fin tribal markings they needed to signify relation to their father, and eventually, in six years time, they would have the White Tiger Clan paws tattooed onto them also.

Stella noticed her mistress' entrance into the room and gave a fanged grin, which Trinity returned.

Kai had known they were going to arrive; according to Trinity the bit beast dimension was a terrible state, due to attacks from artificial humans and their artificial bit beasts. No one had any idea how they could have hacked into the frequency of the bit beast dimension, let alone how they survived there. The gravity in that dimension was apparently enough to crush a normal human like a bug.

"I want to know where the others ended up," snapped Dranzer, obviously addressing Trinity, who blinked placidly.

"How exactly do you expect me to know any better than you do?" she asked, and got an angry orange glare in return. She flopped down next to Kai and leaned her head against his shoulder. He had barely moved throughout the whole ordeal, aside from blinking and breathing.

"Dranzer is here," Kai, stated, "So are the three Mystics. At what age did you obtain Stella?"

"When I was fourteen, if I remember correctly," replied Trinity.

"Well, that means that your counterpart in the past would not yet have her bit beast. Neither would your brother and sister's counterparts."

Forsaking the promise they had both made, they had never returned to the past for casual visits. They had intended to, but had become caught up in the Crystal Senshi ranks, which they had been given the presidency to when Ray and Mariah had retired, plus the twins, who had been more than they could handle. Kai's own time had become a distant memory to him.

"Which could basically equal out to the fact that the others have been sent to the past," muttered Trinity.

"Maybe we should go back and check..." Kai said, trailing off at the end, finally realizing how long it had actually been.

Trinity nodded against his shoulder.

"Maybe we should..."

Ray sat with Mariah on the couch, fondly stroking her hand, which was intertwined with his, with his thumb. Trinity sat at the table, her toes hanging about fifteen centimeters from the ground, munching her way through some form of sugar-doused cereal. Kirra sat at the table, twirling her left index finger around in her pink hair and using her other hand to hold the spoon, which was poking at her food. Marth sat, his toes a long way from the ground contentedly munching on the crust of a piece of toast and jam. Max and Emily's daughter, Amy, sat next to him, her blonde pigtails bouncing off the table in an almost disgustingly adorable fashion. She'd definitely taken after her father; blonde hair, blue eyes, puppy-dog nature, purple top and jeans and clean white joggers. Being the only child, she was naturally doted on by her parents something severe.

The happy scene was somewhat shattered when Galux skidded under the breakfast table on all fours, trying to escape from Driger, who was apparently trying to catch the small mountain cat in a playful game of tag. Marth was tossed in the air when his chair left the ground and was overturned, but he landed perfectly on his feet, and simply stood his chair up properly and reclaimed his place atop of it.

Galux and Driger had managed to muster enough power to change back into their animal forms temporarily, and were surprisingly fast, considering the obstacles they had to dodge. Driger was falling behind, so he raised his right paw, stretching it out as if aiming at Galux, and then withdrawing his claws and setting his paw back on the ground in one swift gesture. Galux suddenly stopped and was seemingly knocked to the ground by an invisible force. Mariah's eyes widened, because even after a minute her bit beast did not regain it's footing, or indeed try to get up at all. Driger's eyes bugged out slightly and his ears became pinned to his head, giving him the look of a scared animal. He slowly crawled over and tapped Galux softly with his paw. The electric blue eyes shot open and Galux's teeth latched down onto Driger's outstretched limb. The white tiger snarled in irritation more than anything and managed to shake the mountain cat's grip. She grinned in a catlike way and began running up the hallway again, with Driger snarling in mock-determination and beginning to chase after her.

Ray and Mariah laughed at the bit-beasts playful antics and Mariah snuggled closer to Ray.

When the Elders had arrived back in their village, they immediately went through the roof, because in their tradition, one child out of wedlock was bad. Two was blasphemy, and that was the number of children they had at that time. So Mariah and Ray became engaged, but had never got married as of yet. The wedding date was set for exactly 2 weeks away, but goodness knows, something always happened to disrupt their plans.

Hopefully this time it would be all right.

Galux and Driger had just returned in their almost human forms, still walking on all fours however, as they had not yet grasped the concept of walking on two legs. Tyson and Dragoon were mutated into uncomfortable looking positions as they tried to sleep.

Trinity yawned in a bored manor, jumping off her chair and gesturing for the others to do the same. Amy looked down, terrified of the velocity of the jump. To be fair, it was pretty high up for a seven year old. Marth grabbed her hand and helped her down and she smiled in return. A light blush crept into Marth's cheeks as he muttered that it was really no problem. (AN: Our Marthie's a 'lil gentleman .)

"We're going outside to hang out," Trinity shouted to her parents, who nodded. Nothing could really threaten their safety in the village anymore, so they could allow them out in daylight all the time without risk.

The four children ran through the front door and out into the sunlight.

Kai's mahogany eyes surveyed the scene of the White Tiger Clan's village.

"It's in a much peaceful state than what we left it in," he commented, his eyes flickering to Trinity who nodded in agreement while trying to prevent her daughter from charging down the hill at top speed and entering the village. Kai's son stood next to his father in an identical pose- arms folded across the chest, world-hating look adorning his face.

"Come on! Let's go let's go let's go!" the female child of Kai and Trinity panted in a hyperactive fashion, desperately trying to loosen the grip her mother had on the collar of her shirt. Trinity looked at Kai inquiringly and he nodded.

"Let's go."

"About time," said the male snapped, starting to stride down the hill.

Meanwhile, Mariah and Ray were basically sitting around doing nothing in particular, seeing that is was one of those lazy Sundays on which you just want to sit around and enjoy the company of the ones you love.

And they were doing this with a large amount of efficiency.

In fact, if Ray hadn't heard someone's voice yelling out their names, they would have been very content to stay in their bedroom and 'enjoy each other's company'.

"This had better be good," Ray snarled in a manor that suggested he'd rather be with his fiancé than answering the door. He was hastily trying to wrap himself up in his dressing gown to disguise his... lack of clothing, shall we say.

He swung the door open, starting to speak without even looking at who it was, standing in front of him.

"Excuse me, but why the Hell are you interrupting me? I am kind of preoccupied at the moment, so could you possibly piss off and save me the trouble? I don't do autographs, my professional beyblade career ended ten years ago and no, I do not want to take part in a special exhibition match and neither does my fiancé so GO AWAY AND LEAVE US AND OUR KIDS ALONE!"

"Gee, that's a rather rude thing to say to your old team captain."

Ray actually considered paying attention at that point, and realized it was indeed his old team captain.

"Kai! How have you been? I haven't seen you in ages!" Ray said as the old friends hugged each other. (AN: You know... that guyish pat-on-the-back kind of hug)

"I've been busy," Kai admitted. "You and Mariah left me and Trinity as presidents of the family company."

"Well I apologize for that," Ray said sarcastically.

"Don't bother. Apologies are for over-emotional fools."

Ray then looked left and in a slightly downward direction, to notice the dark-blue haired boy with cold mahogany eyes staring back at him.

"You look like my grandfather," the boy commented matter-of-factly.

"That's because he is," Kai replied to his son's statement in an identical matter-of-fact tone.

"So that's your kid with Trinity, huh?" Ray leaned down slightly, eying the kid off.

"That's right. Trin's gone to catch the other one..."

"You have two kids?" Ray questioned.

"They were twins. They came as a two for one deal."

Trinity suddenly rounded the corner, carrying her hyperactive light-blue haired, golden-eyed daughter.

"Mum! I just wanted to go play with the other kids! It's not my fault they were scared of me!" the girl complained.

Trinity frowned down at her daughter, shaking her head in bemusement at the girl's hyperactivity.

"That's my daughter," Kai stated, pointed to the person in question.

"Do they happen to have names?"

Kai gestured to the boy.

"Kurai."

Then the girl.

"Lita."

Ray nodded and the names, and then questioned their ages.

"They would be a few months younger than Kirra, in this timeline," Trinity said.

"So where's Mariah? I assume she was the fiancé you were referring to."

"She's... waiting for me. I'll go and get her," came the reply, and Ray dashed back into the room he and Mariah shared.

Mariah was lying stomach down on the bed, smirking at him as he walked in.

"Took your time."

"There's a good reason."

"And what might that be?" Mariah smiled, sitting up to poke Ray playfully in the stomach.

"Kai and Trinity have come to visit."

Mariah's jaw dropped, but she very quickly regained her composure and blushed at her own overreaction.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Ray nodded, pulling Mariah out of the bed and passing her, her own nightgown, which had been haphazardly discarded to the floor.

"Yes it has. But I think you'll be surprised what has happened in this time."

"What do you mean?"

"It appears we have become grandparents."

Mariah wasn't exactly thrilled to be called a grandparent at 29 years of age. Who would? But she was happy to meet her 'grandchildren' anyway. However, she couldn't hope but notice they were both rather... strange. It seemed horrible to say that, after raising three children who were 'strange' in their own right also, but the two kids seemed to be complete opposites of each other and exploited their personalities extensively.

"So what's been happening to you lately?" Kai questioned, sounding abnormally inquisitive.

"Well, our bit beasts appeared out of no where as humans and scared the shit through us all," Mariah said sarcastically.

"Same happened to us," Trinity said.

"What?"

"Our bit beasts- the three Mystics and Dranzer appeared from nowhere..."

"But technically you should know why this happened?" Mariah questioned suspiciously.

"No clue." The answer was level, no to quick or too slow... and yet... Mariah was suspicious.

"Our bit beasts told us that their dimension had been attacked by artificial human beings and their bit beasts and they needed somewhere safe to hide... but they also mentioned something about a star..." Ray muttered under his breath.

"I don't know what's going on. Honestly."

"Fine, I'll take your word for it," Ray said, still dissatisfied but forcing himself to be content with the information he had.

Suddenly, the front door swung open and the three young Kon children plus the one young Mizuhara child strode into the room. Max and Emily had returned to their own house by now, and Mariah had to tell Amy to go back there instead. But the child had already figured it out for herself.

"Mummy and Daddy have gone back home."

"Yes, they have."

"I'll go back later. I wanna stay here and play."

Trinity suddenly caught sight of her older self and Kai.

"Well, well, well... if it ain't old Sourpuss himself."

Kai gave little Trin a look that looked somewhat like this: ¬¬

"You still remember that, huh?"

"Yup. And you're my older self."

Trinity nodded, and little Trin smiled.

"And all this time, I was afraid I was gonna end up looking like Dad!"

Ray gave his daughter a look that looked somewhat like this: Òó

Trin smiled. "I was just kidding, Daddy."

"Yeah. Sure you were..."Ray said, still frowning.

All three Kon children were caked with mud. Kirra smiled and jumped directly onto her father's stomach, winding him.

"Guess what Daddy? Me and Trin and Amy and Theo found these people we don't like, so we pelted them with mud!"

Ray sighed. This meant another phone call from the Elders about insubordinate children.

"We'd best be getting back," Kai stated.

"But you just got here!" Mariah exclaimed.

"We're kind of busy these day," explained Trinity.

"Well... there's not much you can do about that, but if you could, please come to our wedding. It's exactly two weeks from this date and we'd be really grateful if you could make it," Mariah said. There was a pleading note in her voice.

Trinity smiled. "I'll keep that date free on the calendar."

Mariah nodded gratefully, and snuggled closer to Ray. Trinity noticed the ring on her mother's finger and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"The diamond in that ring could choke a panda!" Trinity exclaimed, with a sense of bemusement.

"Don't you have one yet?" Mariah said, giving Kai the evil eye.

"No, because he's slack," Trinity smirked, poking Kai's shoulder. Kai humphed but retained a smile on his face.

"At least it's nice to have something to look forward to, right?"

Trinity rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Trinity was staring at the two seven year olds who were literally her children.

"You're who?"

"We're Kurai and Lita."

"You're weird," said Amy in the tradition dumb-blonde style.

"You're not too regular yourself!" Kurai snarled back.

"Come on kids, it's time to go." Kurai and Lita nodded at their father's command and followed obediently behind their parents. As they walked out the door the four children that were of that time stuck their tongues out at their backs. Kurai and Lita turned around and Kurai glared. Lita simply looked downhearted.

"Don't do that."

The twins then strode out of the door, leaving all four remaining children utterly bemused.

"I do not like the idea of leaving our humans on their own these days," Galux stated darkly.

"It is not out job to interfere with their personal lives and business. We are here to protect the star when it arrives." Driger's tail smacked against the dusty ground stirring up and small cloud of red-coloured dirt.

Galux slunk over to Driger on all fours and rubbed against him in a very cat-like way.

"We don't know when that is going to happen."

"By the look of your mistress it will not happen any time soon."

Dragoon suddenly appeared behind them, being able to stand on his hind legs being the advantage he had over his comrades.

"Has anything happened in my absence?"

"No. All has been at peace."

"They are obviously still trapped in our dimension."

"I pray the others got out unharmed."

"We cannot guarantee that happened, however."

"Time tells all."

"We shall just have to wait, then," Dragoon commented.

The three bit beasts continued to watch over their masters from a distance. They knew what they had gotten themselves into, and what the consequences would be for both human and beast. All was peaceful at the moment, but...

How were five, nine if you counted the ones that were not of this time, going to stop the oncoming storm?

Hiromi makes her violent debut into this series and causes some serious damage to Tyson's physical and mental well-being next time!


	3. The collaterally damaging debut of Hirom...

Well, here is the chapter only to be known as 'three'. Ok so on with the story... I don't own stuff.

Future Hope

Ray, Mariah, Max and Kenny were still staring at the rooftop where Kai and the girl (AN: Remember only Kai knows her name) had been perched on just a moment before. Mariah still had her arms around Ray's shoulders. Ray seemed pretty much recovered from the attack. "Are you alright, Mariah?" Ray whispered in her ear. She shivered slightly at the feeling of his breath on her ear. She shifted her position to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Ray. But what about you?"

Ray smiled slightly, his eyes shining inches from her own.

"I'm alright, but I'd feel even better if..." he didn't get to finish the question, because Mariah had already guessed what he wanted her to do, and gently brushed her lips against his in a kiss. However, she had chosen a bad time to do so, because they suddenly heard "OOH, LOVERS!"

They parted quickly and looked up at Max who had a big goofy-but-cute smile on his face. Kenny looked like he was being strangled more than Ray did before. A pink tinge entered Mariah's cheeks and Ray looked away from her, looking guilty.

Max just grinned wider. "But anyway, how are ya Ray old buddy?" Max yelled before he jumped off the roof and onto Ray in a sort of 'glomp'. Mariah had managed to move away just in time to avoid being 'glomped' by Max.

"Good, Max, fine!" said Ray, whose face was turning blue. "Now could you please get off me?"

"Oops, sorry, I get a little over-excited sometimes. But anyway, what's with those weird robots? Where did they come from?"

Ray sat up, coughed a little, and then put on a serious face. "I'll explain everything soon, but in the meantime, let's go back to our place, we are not safe out here," he said, gesturing to Mariah so Max knew what the 'our' meant.

"Oh, so you share a place too?" Max said smirking.

"Well, when you're the only two humans left in a place you don't really have much choice do you?" snapped Mariah.

Max looked guilty. "True, true."

Mariah sighed, satisfied. "Well, we'd better start heading back" She tried to stand up, but her injured hip prevented her from doing so. Ray hesitated for just one moment before walking over to her and scooping her up in his arms, cradling her like a baby. She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. He smiled that wonderful, heart-warming smile that always made her feel special, and she rested her head against his chest almost immediately falling asleep. Ray seemed well satisfied, and started walking, gesturing to Max and Kenny to follow him. Max stood there and gaped, before smiling. 'They really deserve each other, he obviously cares about her a lot and would never let anything happen to her, and she loves him more than anything else in the world probably, they need each other,' Max thought before starting to follow them.

Kai was still staring at Trinity, until he realized that his mouth was hanging open and he probably looked like a complete idiot. She was grinning at him almost victoriously but then continued to speak.

"If you wanna hear what's going on, you'd better close your mouth, you look like some big old frog waiting for a bug to land in its mouth."

Kai quickly shut his mouth at that, and glared at her some more. "Well are you gonna tell me or not?" he said coolly.

She closed her amber eyes momentarily, as if reconsidering, and then opened them again to stare into his mahogany coloured ones. She then started to speak...

(AN: this is Trin's POV at the moment so don't get confused)

"Okay, my name is Trinity, AKA Trin. My parents named me that because they believed that I made them complete, a group of three, thus the name Trinity. I guess they didn't count on my little brother and little sister..." she trailed off for a second, lost in memories of her family. "Oh well, I'm getting off the point. I came from the near future, and I work for a group of people that fight against the youma- yes that is what they are called. (AN: In Japanese that means demon) The group I work for are called the Crystal Senshi (AN: Japanese for soldiers) and we specialize in getting rid of the youma. There are not many left of us, because only the truly skilled will make it past the test to be made a member of the Crystal Senshi, and I'm the only girl to ever pass anyway. And even after you have passed it is hard to survive the rigorous training we go through every day, and the danger the youma present. It's pretty dangerous, but I wanted to join, it was the only way I could avenge my mother's family. (AN: Sound familiar?) They were all murdered by those beasts- every single one, and I would not stand for it. I wanted to protect my family- my little brother Marth (AN: I've been playing too much SSBM, but it's a cool name!) and my little sister Kirra, but most of all my parents. They were the people that thought of the Crystal Senshi in the first place. They were the first to learn how to harness the power of their bit beasts without their beyblades- they could do so by using a training technique we ourselves do. But, it seems that our family are the only ones capable of doing so properly. Maybe because our families' bit beasts were passed down from generation to generation, so only a limited number of people have the same powers as we do at our disposal. Kirra, Marth and myself have bit beasts descended from our parents'. They are my Mystellara, Mysticala- Kirra's bit beast and Mysticisia- Marth's bit beast. All of them are cats of some sort- Marth's is like my father's, Kirra's is more like my mother's and mine is sort of a cross between both.

"Wait a second- you keep saying your parents are these great people who have accomplished so many things- who are they? Do we know them?" Kai demanded of her.

"You already know who my parents are..." Trinity said softly, smiling to show her teeth.

Kai thought about this comment for a moment, before looking her over. He stared into the amber depths, and their pupils narrowed like a cat's. He looked at the dark red hair, with pink-fuchsia streaks shining in the early morning sun. His eyes then traveled downward, noticing what he hadn't noticed before- the teeth. More like fangs. Kai took a deep breath and said the only possible answer "Ray and Mariah..."

Meanwhile, Ray was still carrying Mariah, with Max and Kenny trailing behind him. He looked downwards to looks at Mariah, and thought how beautiful she looked, sleeping with her head rested against his chest. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he took the next step down the roadway and he felt the ground under hit feet was not stable. His suspicions were reconfirmed and as the ground once again caved in slightly. He gasped and stepped back, crashing into Max and Kenny who were now close behind him, as if afraid of getting lost or left behind.

"Huh? What did you stop for?" said Max before seeing the ground ahead of them.

A shovel sticking up through the ground suddenly surprised them. Their eyes widened and they took a step back, Max stepping in front of Ray, who still had Mariah. They prepared for an ambush. But then suddenly, to their complete and utter astonishment, Tyson's head poked up through the ground!

"What the...?" said Max, his mouth hanging open.

Tyson turned to face them, and smiled when he saw them.

"Hey guys! I got caught by the military, but I dug out through the bottom of my cell!" said Tyson, a big dumb grin on his face.

The other just stared, but Mariah remained asleep.

"Oh and guys, can you order in some pizza or something? I'm really starving after a day of tunneling."

Back on the rooftop, Trinity smirked. "Congratulations, you've won the Tupperware, would you like to try for the Microwave?"

Kai sat down on the edge of the building, pretty much blown away by what he'd just heard.

'But it does make sense, I mean how long have those two been hot for each other?' he thought. (AN: Heh, heh!)

"So when's it gonna happen?" he asked, she immediately knew what he was talking about.

"It's about nine months away from my birthday, so it could be any time soon," she said "My sister is 2 years and 2 months behind me, and my brother is 3 years and 11 months," she added as an afterthought.

"Ok, that's... alright. Wait until Max and Kenny hear about this!" Kai grinned somewhat evilly.

A look of shock passed across Trinity's face. "NO! No one else must ever know! Those other guys, according to my parents, might not keep the secret. I was given strict rules to only tell you, and that's how it will stay. And if they let something slip, there's a chance I might never even be born. And you wouldn't want that to happen to someone as cute as me right?" she had a pleading tone to her voice.

Kai sighed slightly before closing his eyes and folding his arms. "You have my word."

Trinity looked relieved. "Thank you. I had better be getting back to my own time- my parent's are probably worried sick about me! But don't worry, I will return as soon as I have seen them."

Kai then opened his eyes to look at her, and smirked. "You'd better, otherwise we're screwed."

She smiled, and then turned to leave. "I'd better be going, but I will return. But until then, sayonara Kai. STELLA!" the bit beast emerged from the pink and white blade and with one swift moment, Trinity had mounted it and kicked it's sides with her feet.

"Wait! Just before you leave, who do think is behind all this?" yelled Kai as her bit beast carried her further away.

She looked back; Trinity was quite a distance away but Kai could see her large amber eyes were clouded.

"We believe it is your grandfather." With that, her bit beast carried her away at top speed.

Kai was left standing alone on the roof.

Ray, Mariah, Tyson, Max and Kenny had arrived back at Ray and Mariah's place. Ray put Mariah down on his bed, before closing the door and going back to the living room where the others were.

"So," Ray said "This is our place."

"More like underground refuge..." muttered Tyson.

"Well, you can't be too careful these days," said Max.

"Yeah, don't we know it," said Kenny.

They suddenly heard a sound at the door. Ray peered around the corner to see Kai standing there, taking off his shoes.

"Kai! What did that girl say? Did she know anything about the creatures?" questioned Ray.

"Um, yeah, she said they were called youma, but other than that she, uh, didn't say anything of much importance!" Kai stuttered his way through the sentence. He could tell that Ray could see he was lying, but had obviously decided to let it go.

Ooh, this is getting interesting!


	4. The Wedding

THE WEDDING

"Stupid makeup artist!" Mariah snapped, moving her hands to tear at her hair, but stopped when the hairdresser screamed.

"Don't touch your hair! It will ruin my work of art!" said the man with a slight lisp. Mariah eyed him strangely, before sighing and continuing to pace around her bedroom at a rapid pace. Ray had gone to Max's place to get dressed, and Emily had come over to their place, so literally they'd done a swap. The only child that was there was Amy, and she had wandered off somewhere, looking for Marth, who had disappeared, along with his two older sisters.

'Here's hoping Marth gets back in time,' Mariah thought to herself.

"Mariah! Stop pacing, it'll be alright," Emily soothed.

Mariah smirked in return.

"That's what I said to you at your wedding day. Argh... I shouldn't have had these lilies put in my hair... I think I'm allergic..."

"While you were trying to feed Marth at the same time and he wasn't being terribly cooperative," Emily smirked back.

"Yeah, well now he's old enough to get his own nutrients, so it works out."

Speaking of the devil, Marth dashed into the room, covered in mud. Mariah eyed her son with a look of hopelessness on her face, and then buried her face in her hands.

"I told you to stay clean."

Marth shivered, his mother's voice was deadly quiet.

"I'm sorry," he said, attempting to look sincere but failing.

"Just hurry up and get clean again," Mariah snapped. Marth's bottom lip began trembling; his mother never yelled at him like that. Mariah saw the expression on her son's face, and flopped down into a chair and held her arms out.

"Come here."

Marth nodded and dashed over, jumping into Mariah's lap in the process and winding her. Immediately, the mud that was stuck to him got smeared onto her clothing as well.

'Good thing I don't have my dress on yet...' Mariah thought, before stroking her son's hair gently away from his face.

"Look, I don't want to get mad at you, but you've got to help me here. Go and get cleaned up quickly, and then go find your sisters."

"I think they went to see Daddy."

"Why did they go over there?" Mariah questioned.

"Because I said I'd tell you that they were the ones that pushed me into the mud... Oops!" Marth realized what he'd said and clapped his hands over his mouth violently.

Mariah glared into nothingness and tightened her grip on whatever she was holding... she didn't care what it was...

"Ow! Mummy, you're hurting my arm!" Marth whimpered.

"Oops! I'm sorry, but can you please do what I asked you?"

"Yes, Mummy."

"Good boy," Mariah sighed with relief, pushing a kiss to her son's temple.

"But first I've gotta find Amy."

"She's around here somewhere, she shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Okay," Marth nodded violently, and hopped off his mother's lap and left the room. Mariah sighed deeply and once again started pacing, occasionally pausing to look out of the nearest window, hoping the makeup person would be hurrying down the path, angry with herself for being so late.

"Damn it... only ten minutes until we have to leave!" Mariah screamed half an hour later, while also attempting to squeeze into her dress.

"And still no sign of any of the four kids..." Emily muttered, applying the finishing touches to her dress in the form of earring that were a matching emerald green to the dress.

"Well, the girls will already be dressed because they were going with Ray. But they were supposed to stay here so I could put on their makeup and their jewelry..." Mariah half-shouted back.

"That's good then... ARGH!"

"What happened?"

"I poked myself in the eye while I was putting in my contact lenses," Emily said, while wincing and covering her left eye with her hand.

"Tough it out, we've both been through worse," Mariah commented. Emily blinked, thinking she'd misheard; it had been the first time Mariah had even come close to mentioning what had happened to them all ten years ago.

"DAMN IT!" Mariah suddenly screamed, thumping her fist against the wall. Emily jumped and eyed her with interest.

"Come on, we can't delay any further- the Limo just arrived. We'll have to do our own makeup."

The two women hurriedly applied mascara, lipstick, blush and a bit of coverall where it was needed, and rushed outside. Or, at least Mariah tried to, but got her dress caught in the door, that she had hurriedly closed behind her. She yelped, before continuing to fall over, using her hands to break her fall, but tearing the material on one of her gloves in the process. Emily looked back to see Mariah cursing violently whilst trying to yank the back part of her dress free from the bottom of the door.

"Don't pull on it! You'll rip it," Emily sweatdropped as Mariah taught her a few new Chinese swear words and wiped a smudge of dirt off her face angrily.

"Hold still and I'll unlock the door," Emily stated firmly, and Mariah did as she was asked, but continued to have a greatly disgruntled look on her face.

Emily grabbed the key from off the ground, where it had fallen from Mariah's grasp, and unlocked the door. Mariah immediately stood up, looking very red in the face and hitching her skirt up until the hem rested around her knees, and grumbling as she sat down in the Limo. Emily sweatdropped and followed her as fast as she could walk in stiletto heels.

"Good morning, ladies. The champagne is in the cooler just in front of you," the driver stated professionally, sounding like he really needed a hobby of some description.

"Thank God..." Mariah muttered, reaching for the small glass in front of her and then the bottle, ripping her gloves off roughly in the process and tossing them over her shoulder.

"I wouldn't have too much of that," Emily warned. "Being drunk for your wedding isn't attractive."

"I won't. Do you think I'm stupid or something?" Mariah questioned, as she finished pouring herself a shot of the alcohol and drank it in one gulp.

"Eh..." Emily said, watching Mariah pour another shot of the champagne.

"I'm not going to go over the top," Mariah muttered indignantly, sipping the drink and smiling at her friend. "Don't go all Doctor Phil on me, thanks."

"Just don't make a fool of yourself. Don't make Ray remember his wedding day as 'the day that Mariah got pissed'."

Over the other side of the village, Ray wasn't having an easy time, either.

"Damn hair..." he muttered, while trying to tame his unruly black tresses. Trinity and Kirra watched their father with interest, as he gradually grew more frustrated.

"Do you want us to do it Daddy?" questioned Kirra.

"Yeah, we could do it up pretty for ya," Trinity blinked as a hairbrush flew past, centimeters from her face.

"No thank you," Ray said, eying Trinity's hair, which was her own doing. She frankly looked like a spastic Maltese Terrier that has stuck a fork in an electrical outlet, but no one had the heart to tell her that. But she usually looked somewhat like that anyway, because her hair was so uncontrollably curly.

Suddenly, Ray's son dashed in and stuck his hands onto his knees and started panting heavily. After a few seconds, Amy followed him in and walked over to her kitchen to get herself a drink.

"Daddy! I came to get the girls!" Marth yelled. Trinity and Kirra shot each other a "How did he get out?" look, but didn't say anything. Ray's eyes shot up to the clock on the wall, and he frowned.

"No point in that now, buddy. I'll have to take all three of you with me and Max."

A small cough was heard and Ray turned to see Amy tapping her foot and eying him with her large blue eyes, as if impatient.

"Fine, all FOUR of you. We'll have to leave right away though, otherwise we'll be late."

Ray had gathered all of the kids, and Max into the car and was driving down the road to the place in the village where he and Mariah were to be married. The kids were chanting "Faster, faster, faster!" and Max was looking worriedly out of the windscreen of the car, shouting out loud every time they came within a meter of a tree.

When he arrived there, he saw Mariah stumbling out of the Limo and giggling slightly and grabbing Emily's hand, yanking her out of the car violently and causing her to fall over. But they both got up and giggled again, their faces slightly flushed pink, the empty champagne bottle still clasped in Emily's hand. Ray and Max sweatdropped at the women that were their wife and almost-wife.

Trinity blinked at her mother's slightly tipsy behavior.

"Dad, what's wrong with Mum?"

"She looks like she does just before you two go to bed," Kirra commented innocently.

Ray's eyes flickered back to his daughters, but he let it go. But, after he'd finished looking at them in a suspicious manner, the two girls gave each other a wink.

It was still about twenty minutes away from when the wedding was due to begin, so there was nothing much to do but simply sit around, looking bored.

About five minutes after Ray had arrived, Tyson had shown up, flanked by Hiromi.

Hiromi eyed Mariah's shimmering white dress beadily and snorted.

"What's the point of you wearing white? You've had three children," Hiromi snapped.

Mariah glared up at Hiromi and snarled.

"Look, this is my wedding day, not yours, so I'd appreciate it if you'd shut up for once!"

"This is awfully familiar to me."

Mariah's eyes flickered upwards to see Trinity standing on a rather thick bough of the tree that was towering over her head. She was dressed in her usual black attire, and looked like she was going to a rock concert rather than a wedding. About the only part of her that looked alive were her eyes, shining with a complex mixture of emotions- but the most predominant ones were definitely amusement, and a form of envy, while she looked down on her mother, who looked so beautiful in the wedding dress she'd chosen out of the thousands of others.

"You're at a wedding, not a funeral!" Hiromi snapped, eying Trinity, who was ignoring the slight cracking sound coming from the end of the tree branch she was perched on.

"Oh, shut the Hell up," Trinity snapped, "When you get married, whoever you are, you can bitch as much as you want. Until then, don't screw this up for my Mum and Dad."

"Your Mum and Dad? How can they be your Mum and Dad? You're almost as old as they are, judging by the look of you."

"Long story..." Ray muttered.

"Yeah, too long to go into right now," Max backed up his friend.

"Where's Kai?" Tyson questioned, breaking through the sound of everyone fighting.

Trinity shrugged.

"He went to catch the escapees."

"Escapees?" Emily asked, tucking a particularly annoying strand of her orange hair behind her ear.

"The twins."

"Kai, huh? As in Hiwatari Kai?" asked Hiromi.

"Yes," Trinity stated simply, giving the brown-haired woman a slight glare of possessiveness towards the aforementioned man.

"He was so cute..." Hiromi sighed dreamily.

"Yeah..." Mariah murmured, subconsciously agreeing but blushing when she realized that Ray was giving her a look like a hurt puppy. She smiled steadily at him in reply.

"But he doesn't compare to my Ray."

Ray grinned and the whole group watched as the two got lost in their own little world of love and dirty thoughts for their honeymoon.

However, everyone's attention turned from Ray and Mariah when they heard what sounded like someone yelling, "Let me go!" echoing through the forest.

It turned out to be Kai, along with the two kids of course. Kurai was tucked under his father's arm, all his limbs hanging loosely from his body, although he was facing directly in front of him with a look of intense dislike on his face, he overall looked like an extremely discontented animal that was too lazy to do anything about its current unfortunate position.

Lita however was the exact opposite to her twin brother, as per usual; she had managed to swivel around in Kai's grasp and had attached herself haphazardly to her father's arm, and was yelling at the top of her lungs, explaining the sound everyone had become distracted by.

"Come on Daddy! Let me go!" Lita wailed at the top of her lungs. After receiving no answer, she started yelling once again.

"Lemmego Lemmego Lemmego Lemmego Lemmego Lemmego Lemmego!"

Kai finally did what Lita wanted him to do; he dropped both the kids without asking them if they were ready. Mariah was about to question Kai's controversial approach to fatherhood, but both kids landed perfectly on their feet without any trouble at all.

"Thank you, Daddy," Lita said, before looking at the younger Trinity, Kirra, and Marth and of course Amy.

"You look like my aunty," Lita stated simply. Kirra blinked at this statement, but didn't reply.

Then the three siblings looked up to lock eyes with Trinity, and they continued to stare at each other without blinking for a large portion of time. Hiromi looked confused but everyone else knew they must have been speaking to each other.

'Where are the Holy Beings?' Trinity thought, only to be answered by the smaller version of herself.

'They are around here somewhere. They didn't believe it was their place to be here.'

'Driger and Galux left together,' Marth pointed out.

'They always do, though...' Kirra added.

'I should tell them that their cubs are safe,' Trinity stated to the three younger people who were standing below her. Kirra blinked, but Marth and Trin didn't react at all.

'They ended up with you?'

'Yes... because we have their bit chips, and you don't. At least not yet.'

'Ah, I see,' Kirra murmured in a low purring voice, 'So they're here simply to protect my mother and father. Otherwise they probably would have ended up with you...'

'The Holy Beings are wise creatures, which have survived throughout the ages,' Trinity began, but was cut off by Marth.

'Don't you think we know that? I mean, you know what we are.'

Trinity smirked down at her littler-than-usual little brother.

'I forget that, sometimes. But you seem to resent showing the powers you were blessed with.'

'Mum, everyone is staring at you,' Lita's voice cut into the four people's minds.

'Okay, we'll stop now,' Trinity muttered.

'About time,' Kurai snarled. 'I'm dying of old age.'

'How do they...?' Trin began, but was cut off as the mental connection between their four minds was abolished.

Marth, Kirra and Trin glanced up at Trinity in question. She remained straight faced so the three children gave up and got back to what they had previously been doing, which was staring Lita and Kurai down; it was rather hard to tell which side was winning. Three golden glares against another plus one of a deep red hue...

Ray walked over to Kai and sighed. Kai's eyes flickered over to his friend, but no other part of his body moved.

"I have a favor to ask," Ray said. Kai inclined his head, showing he was actually paying attention to Ray, and Ray took a deep breath, and let it out again before opening his mouth to speak.

"Will you be best man?"

Kai smirked and nodded.

"Why not?"

Ray and Mariah looked thoroughly relieved, and Mariah yanked two small glistening objects off her right ring finger.

"You'll need these then," she said, dropping the two wedding rings into Kai's outstretched palm.

The slate-haired man studied the rings in his hand, one was gold, and one was silver and slightly broader than the other in width. And engraved into them both... Chinese characters...

He glanced at Trinity, who was finally getting off the tree branch and jumping down to join Kai and everyone else on the ground.

"What does that say?" Kai questioned her, and she answered without even looking at the rings.

"Wo ai ni."

'Wo ai ni... I love you in Chinese..." Kai thought.

"How would you know that without looking?" Hilary snapped.

"Because my parents have ones that are perfectly identical to them?" Trinity questioned sarcastically.

"Oh, here you go again with those lies..."

Suddenly, the three Kon children (AN: Well, technically, wouldn't Kurai and Lita's last names be Hiwatari?) snapped around to face the road where their father had parked Max's car.

'One of them is approaching...' Trin thoughts echoed in Kirra and Marth's minds, and her siblings nodded in agreement.

'Can you not tell which one?' Trinity questioned from her high perch on the branch of the tree.

'It's vaguely familiar... like I know it from a long time ago,' Trin mused, but both her siblings made it clear that they had no idea to who it could be.

Suddenly, a man emerged from behind the car and Mariah's face broke into a huge grin.

"Lee!"

Lee grinned, exposing his teeth, which were the usual fangs that were often seen in their hometown... and it felt good to be back there too, after almost eight years...

Mariah was running towards her brother in a fit of hysterics and Lee held his arms out, but Mariah didn't just run into his embrace she jumped and wrapped her arms around Lee's neck. Lee grunted very softly as he got used to carrying his sister's small weight, and he hugged her tight. Ray smiled, happy to see his best friend again but obviously not as excited as Mariah.

"I thought you wouldn't come... I thought you'd be too busy!" Mariah practically screamed into Lee's ear.

"Yeah, well I'm here to make sure little Raymond has been looking you."

Lee's eyes flickered to his nieces and nephew and smirked.

"Judging by the number of kids you now have, I think he has."

Mariah rolled her eyes, and then matched the smirk her brother had on his face practically down to the very last detail.

"For all you know, he could be tying me up every night and forcing me to..."

"Stop there. I don't need to know any more about what you two do. But you obviously have way too much time on your hands if he has time to do that to you every night."

Lee then looked behind Mariah, back to the kids who were eying him somewhat suspiciously, excluding Trinity who was staring at him, with her memory slowly stirring.

"I haven't seen those two girls since they were babies... when I left, Kirralee was only three days old... and assuming the boy is Marth?"

"Yes."

Lee looked behind Max to see Trinity standing there, examining her black fingernails in the sunlight.

"Ah, so you're back to, huh?"

"Yeah, we're both back," Kai said in his usual tone of voice.

"Can I ask you just one question?"

Trin's voice rang out into the now quiet group, and Lee nodded.

"Can I please see your beyblade?"

"I suppose so..." Lee murmured, looking unwilling but nevertheless letting her examine it.

Her eyes immediately traveled to the black blade's bit chip, and she glared, her eyes glazing over very slightly.

'Gone... they're all going to be gone...'

The Black Lion motif was gone, instead, the dark colour of the usual bit chip glinted up at her in the sun that had managed get through the heavy leaf cover above her head.

"Where is Galeon?"

Lee grinned, despite the serious look on Trin's face.

"I thought you, of all people, would know, Kintora."

Galux sat, flicking her tail against her mistress's bed, scratching her ear with her elongated fingernails.

"We really should be there with our masters," she stated evenly.

"No. It is not our place to impose on what they choose to do for recreational purposes," Driger replied, not fully turning around to face her, but he turned around just enough so that she could see his right eye, his acid-green gaze drilled through her own electric blue one.

"I do not think it is recreational... Mariah has not been terribly relaxed about the matter," Galux purred softly.

"I would not understand anyway," Dragoon admitted, attempting to shift but instead just jamming his large blue coils even more severely into the tight space. Galux noticed her comrade's discomfort, and glanced at the window, intensifying her gaze for just a moment, but then the window flew open, and Dragoon spun itself around and stuck his tail out of the window.

"I thank you, Galux. I now have room to breathe," Dragoon commented, mirth playing with his usually serious tone.

"What is the cause of your amusement?" questioned Draciel, sticking his head out of his shell momentarily. Trygator was perched on top of his shell and she flicked her long sandy hair back over her shoulder, before answering.

"I would find it amusing if your humans came back and found Dragoon's tail sticking out of their window."

"It probably would not shock them as much as most others," Driger chuckled.

Suddenly, the White Tiger's hilarity was put to an end, when he sensed a power, close to he Galux's in likeness, yet strangely familiar. Galux's head suddenly snapped around also, obviously sensing the same aura of power that Driger was.

"I recognize that power... but where from?" Galux murmured.

Abruptly, Dragoon's azure blue scales were darkened by a shadow that leapt into the room; at least, at first glance it appeared to be a shadow. But it couldn't have been, because it landed directly on top of Galux's lengthy tail, causing her to yelp with surprise.

"Oh, I apologize for that error in my judgment of distance."

Galux gave the figure a sharp glare, before yanking her tail out from under the foot of the new arrival, causing him to trip over and land close to Driger.

"Galeon, I always thought of you as a greater judge of your own power than that," Driger commented to the black lion, or at least the figure in front of him, that happened to be the aforementioned Holy Being's more human state.

The one word that probably could have been used to describe Galeon at that point was dark. Shadowy, unruly hair, glowing scarlet eyes, a sleek, ebony tail flicked like a whip against the wall. It also could be said that, although his skin did have the usual white glow of unseen mystic power to it, it was definitely darker in hue to the other Holy Being's hides.

"Perhaps you should consider the fact that you had many masters that did not unleash your power to it's fullest potential, until you were inherited by my master's friend, Driger. At least I know how to show my power, even when it is not truly needed."

The fur on Driger's back bristled violently, and he looked like he was about to rebut Galeon's comment, but Galux gave him a sharp look and he stopped.

"Perhaps you should both remember that the old days of rivalry of the beast's of our clan is over."

"This is coming from one who tended to take sides," snarled Galeon. Galux's ears became pinned to her head out of anger and when she spoke, it was in a low hiss.

"I, like my mistress, was not truly on anyone's 'side'."

"Suit yourself," Galeon snarled, and Driger regained his usual cheerful nature.

"You know Galeon, you so remind me of your master, when he was younger of age."

"Ah, yes. I will not deny that the boy had a ferocious temper, but he really is a good boy... but he was commonly lead to believe that the world revolved around himself."

"And Galux's mistress," Dragoon smiled.

"Yes, he is rather protective of his next of kin."

"I am surprised that he is letting Ray and Mariah go through with this, even though I do not understand what it is, I am sure it is important," mused Draciel.

"Perhaps he is letting it go ahead because it is already too late to try and prevent it?" suggested Trygator.

"No. You forget that he wouldn't do anything to upset my mistress, even if he couldn't stand seeing it," Galux replied.

"Ah, but have you forgotten that Ray and Mariah truly began to bond to each other when Lee refused to teach her to beyblade?" questioned Driger.

"I'm glad someone showed enough compassion to teach her," Galux smiled.

"And he taught her well, without our influence," commented Driger. "Usually, to make those two get anywhere, we had to tweak their thoughts."

"As we will have to do again, soon enough," Galux murmured, her voice stained with guilt.

"What they do not know will not hurt them," Galeon reassured. "They already had feelings for each other when you came to them. We simply... shall we say... 'Hurried things along.' It was our duty, we fulfilled it, and I dare not say that they could be happier with the ways things have turned out for them- in their favor, for a change."

Galeon's tail suddenly hit a lamp that was sitting on Ray and Mariah's bedside table, and it shattered, overloaded from the electric energy from Galeon's body.

The other five bit beasts stared a Galeon momentarily, before Galux's muscles relaxed and she murmured, "I do not think they shall miss it anyway."

"They probably will not noticed anything has changed at all," Driger said, with a mischievous look on his face that greatly resembled his master, "The way they have been acting lately, I doubt they will notice if the world ends."

"Don't jinx it, White Tiger," Trygator commented.

"We will not let our masters perish, if worse comes to worse. Their survival may influence the outcome in the long run."

"It is our duty as bit beasts to make sure that our masters are kept out of harm's way," affirmed Galux. "And we will live on that pledge until we ourselves perish."

'Okay, so it's Mum and Dad's wedding... can't be all that important... because the stupid, boring old Elders showed up for it,' Kirra thought, as she commando-crawled away from the wedding, closely followed by her brother and sister, who had pretty much come to the same conclusion.

In the minds of children who were ten, eight and seven years old respectively, learning equaled boring, boring equaled Elders, Elders equaled learning- it was a huge triangle of juvenile terror.

"Stupid loose clothes," Marth snapped; although his traditional Chinese-style shirt was rather tight, his pants were extremely loose and baggy. He had to pause every minute or so he could stop the loose bottoms of the legs covering his feet and shoes.

Marth was quite a good distance behind his two sisters, who were currently crawling under a spiky looking bush on their chests- in their best clothes, no less. He was probably that far behind him due to the fact that he had to pause every few seconds to save his modesty.

'Mummy's gonna kill them for getting those dresses dirty..." Marth muttered, before attempting to crawl under the same bush that his sisters had passed under a few seconds ago.

However, he was suddenly halted by his pants- they'd become entangled with the thorns on the bush and were slowly being worked downwards due to his struggling...

"Hey! What the...?" Marth yelped as he felt the rim of his pants get pulled downwards, practically resting around his knees.

"Tri-hi-hin! Help me!" Marth yelled after his eldest sister, but she obviously couldn't hear him- if she could, she would have at least turned back to mock him a bit.

Marth shut his eyes tight, and concentrated on his eldest sister.

'Trin!'

'What's wrong, squirt? You've fallen behind a fair way, haven't you?'

'I'm caught in a bush...'

'Heh, heh, heh...'

'Trin! It's not funny! Come back and help me!'

'Okay, okay. Just give me a second...'

"Uh, Kiz? I've gotta go back for a second."

"Why?" Kirra asked, he golden eyes widening.

"Umm..." Trinity began, but stopped because no ten-year-old girl in their right mind would ever admit they were worried about their younger brother.

"I lost one of my bows..." Trinity muttered.

"No you..."

"I'll be back in a second!" Trinity said, before standing up and hitching her skirt up until it rested around her knees.

After a one hundred meter backtrack, Trin came across her baby brother hanging in a thorn bush with his bare butt pointing to the Heavens.

"Heh..."

"It's not funny," Marth snapped, glaring at his older sister. "Just get me outta this."

Trinity reached through the thorns carefully, so she didn't scratched herself, but managed to find the seam of her brother's pants and underwear, caught around a rather menacing looking thorn.

"Hold on, I'll be done in a second," Trin muttered to her brother, who nodded timidly, whimpering like a small puppy that was unaccustomed to his surroundings.

She managed to get a reasonably good grip on the seat of her brother's pants and eventually tensed all the muscles in her arm and gave one forceful tug, and her brother came flying out of the thorn bush, his pants and underwear still hanging around his knees.

She placed her little brother on the ground, on his feet, and he immediately attempted to pull his pants up. Trinity watched him do this, before opening her mouth to comment.

"Mum would say that you're definitely your father's son."

Marth blushed angrily and gave an angry little snarl.

"Not funny. I don't need to know that. You girls can gossip all you want but I wanna remain with a clean record. I mean, you sure know an awful lot of a ten-year-old person."

"When Mum's had a few glasses of wine, you can get almost anything you want out of her."

Trinity shrugged at the end of this sentence, before grabbing Marth's hand and tugging him along, back to where Kirra was standing. Marth was still making a futile attempt to keep his pants up.

"You think the boring stuff is over yet?" asked Marth.

"Dunno... might as well go back and see... I wanna catch the big bunch of flowers that Mum has to peg at the guests," Kirra explained.

"It's called a bouquet, and she tosses it in the air, she doesn't peg it a people," Trinity snapped.

"Oh well, either way, I wanna catch it so I can get married next."

(AN: There- all of you that fantasize about little Marthie's butt can now do it while reading this chapter.)

"Only God makes perfection so divine..." the Elder droned on, and Lee could honestly feel himself dozing off. The sun was pleasantly warm, and the chairs were comfortable for being plastic.

"Only you make this affection seem to shine..." Lee murmured, completing the sentence. If he ever wanted to become an Elder, he already knew the marriage ceremony inside out, because back in the days when he, Mariah and Ray had been kids, everyone in the village attended the weddings held there. Back then, he never would have guessed in a million years that it would be his little sister and his best friend standing up there together right now.

They were looking at each other in a way that was so filled with adoration, it was almost sickening to behold.

Lee yawned, but tried to secrete it- it probably wasn't exactly polite to yawn at your little sister's wedding, but he'd watched this ceremony enough for one lifetime, just with different people, and frankly it never changed.

It was nearing the end of the ceremony, but the kids still weren't back. Mariah had... ahem... KINDLY left Lee to look after the kids, and they'd wandered off... but they promised they'd be back at least...

"I'm back!" a voice whispered, and Trin emerged from in the nearby scrub and sat down calmly, closely followed by her brother and sister. There was a large smear of mud on her dress and she had twigs in her hair. Kirra's hair had completely fallen out of the neat style it had once been in- it now stuck out at odd angles and there was a large tear in her dress. Marth was probably the worst of the lot- he was covered from head to toe in small nicks and cuts, his hair was full of sharp thorns from the bush which had held him captive, and he was constantly yanking his pants back up. Lee sighed; he was going to cop and earful for letting them get like this.

"And so this happy event comes to and end..." droned the Elder.

'Thank God,' Lee, Trin, Kirra and Marth thought all at the same time. Everyone else other than those four seemed to be at least mildly interested, but then again, they hadn't seen it a million times before.

"Go forth and have many children, the Elder droned on, giving a particularly harsh glare to Trin, Kiz and Theo.

'Oh YES, I remember now- we're the bastard children because we were born out of wedlock!' sniggered Kirra.

'Stupid old coot,' Trinity stated simply, 'He wouldn't know a more modern way of viewing things if it bit him on the ass.'

Lee almost burst out laughing.

'They don't exactly need a written invitation to do what the Elder just requested of them,' he thought to himself, glancing down at his nephew and nieces.

At that point, Ray slid his arms around Mariah's waist and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Mariah blushed a bit but eventually gave in and kissed him back. The Elders gave them both a, 'Well I certainly don't approve of this' look, but said nothing.

Ray then scooped Mariah up in his arms and continued to carry her towards the Limo, whilst she giggled and wrapped her arms securely around his neck. Mariah realized he was still holding her bouquet so she murmured to Ray to stop for a minute, and wielded it violently in the air, so everyone knew why she'd stopped.

Emily, Trinity and all the males and married women stood by, leaving all the unmarried women who were there because they had to be, and Kirra, Trin and Amy to fight it out.

Mariah tossed the flowers over Ray's shoulder and Trin immediately made a grab for them, closely followed by Kirra and Amy. Trin managed to get a pretty good grip on the stalks of the flowers, and Mariah swore she saw her eldest daughter's eyes glint with an unnatural gold colour, before she managed to yank to bouquet free, and wrapped her arms securely around it in a sort of bear hug.

Trinity and Kai looked at each other, and Trinity smirked.

"You should take that as a hint, you know."

Kai just grinned at her momentarily (not a smirk, a grin) and turned his attention back to Ray and Mariah.

They had just gotten into the Limo, and everyone was going to follow it to the reception in their own cars. Lee, the three Kon children, Max, Emily and Amy all managed to squeeze into Max's car (thank God it was a station wagon) and they began to drive behind the Limousine to the reception, which was being held in a nearby town that was larger than the Clan's village.

They were still driving, Amy was yawning slightly and Emily glanced at her only child for a moment, just to make sure she didn't need help, Trinity was staring out the window idly, as was Marth, and Kirra was in a very serious conversation with Lee, which was amusing Max and Emily to a great extent.

"Who're you?"

"I'm your uncle Lee."

"Uncle?"

"I'm your Mum's brother, therefore I'm your uncle."

"So you mean... if I have kids when I grow up, Marth will be their uncle?"

"You've got it," Lee grinned.

"But I won't have kids. Mum and Dad say we're all huge pains in the ass," Kirra said sagely.

Lee raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. They reckon that we came from Hell, sometimes. But I think they like us anyway."

"I could probably understand that," Lee sweatdropped.

"Yeah, but they're bad sometimes, too. Like when they go into their room and scream at each other."

"Oh?" Lee became suspicious for a moment, listening intently to his niece.

"Yeah, but it actually sounds more like they're enjoying it- weird, huh?"

'Aa, the innocence of an eight year old...' Emily thought, glancing at her own daughter, who was looking at Kirra with an involved look on her face.

"Yeah... really weird," Lee said, frowning very slightly.

"Mmm. But I don't know how you can be my Mum's brother. You don't look anything alike."

"Neither do you and Marth," Lee pointed out.

"But we're both pretty. Mummy is pretty and you aren't."

Max and Emily sniggered very slightly but didn't do anything more, they didn't really want to fall victim to Lee's temper.

"Well, it's basically luck of the draw how a baby turns out looking. I look like my father did and Mariah looks like our mother."

"Aa, like me and Marthie look like Mummy and Daddy?"

"Yep."

"What about Trin?"

"She sort of looks like them both mixed together."

"Okay!"

"We'll be there in about half an hour, I think," Max said to Lee, who nodded. "Until then, you'll have to put up with your niece's criticism."

Meanwhile, Mariah was perched on Ray's lap, sipping her champagne idly with one arm wrapped around his neck, occasionally putting the shot glass in the cup holder arm rest of the Limo and yanking her stockings back up. Ray laughed as his new wife grunted angrily and yanked the garter back to where it was supposed to rest.

"Why do you try so hard to keep that thing on?" he mumbled into her ear, giving the lobe a swift nip and placing a soft kiss to her neck.

"So you can take it off. With your teeth."

"Oh."

"Aww, come on, it's tradition!" she smirked, poking Ray swiftly in the stomach with her nicely manicured finger and sliding off his lap with what could only be described as a practiced ease.

"Lee will tackle me and kill me with a butter knife," Ray commented.

"Oh, he's not as bad as you make him out to be," Mariah regained the smirk

"Yeah, maybe not to you..." Ray muttered, but Mariah just smirked and kissed him softly on the cheek, not really wanting to get into an argument about her brother.

"He has no word in what I do anymore. He hasn't had a say since Mum and Dad died."

"That's true," Ray admitted idly, "Besides, he's barely here anymore, anyway."

"I miss him a lot..." Mariah sighed. Ray could tell it upset her, so he wrapped his arms round her waist and pulled her back onto his lap- the roof of the car was so high that the tips of the petals of the white lilies in her hair just brushed it.

"He's here at the moment, okay? So don't think about what's going to happen when he leaves. You'll just worry yourself sick. Plus, you should know that he loves you a lot, no matter where he is."

"Same with you, right?" Mariah questioned, pouting cutely. Ray grinned it return, and his warm hand ran up and down her back.

"Same with me."

Mariah smiled contentedly and leaned her head gently against Ray's shoulder.

"I love you, Ray."

Ray smiled and grabbed her left hand with his own; their wedding rings glistened in the light coming through the car window, and the engraved symbols shone in a particularly bright way.

"Wo ai ni, until the day I die, and forever beyond that."

"That ceremony was so boring..."

"Hiromi..."

"AND that red-haired girl showing up looking like some relative of Marilyn Manson..." (AN: I don't own that dude, but he's pretty cool)

"Hiromi..."

"And those uncouth children running off and that pink-haired THING wearing white after conceiving all three of the little insubordinates..."

"Hiromi! Just be quiet, okay?" Tyson sighed. Honestly, he was beginning to wish that she'd never even tried to hunt him down, and just got on with her life.

"Oh! I come all the way out here to see if you're alright, and this is how you thank me?"

"Hiromi, I just want you to stop stressing about it! It's Ray and Mariah's wedding, not yours. They invite whom they want, they dress how they like and they raise their kids in a way that suits them. So, you can nitpick when you get married."

"... Is that a hint?" Hiromi suddenly looked at Tyson with excitement. He sweatdropped, not knowing how to answer; and knowing that if he told the truth it would put her in a particularly foul mood.

"Umm... perhaps."

Hiromi said nothing for a while; she just stared out the window, admiring the scenery.

'Well, one thing can be said for this hole-in-the-ground of a village, it's actually very beautiful and peaceful once you notice..."

"Hiromi? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure Tyson."

"We're almost out of the Shantung Province, and the town where Ray and Mariah are holding their wedding reception is only about two kilometers away from the border." (AN: The White Tiger Clan's village is in the Shantung Province in the manga...)

"Ah... okay."

For about five minutes, there was silence between the pair; for once, Tyson seemed very concentrated on the road while he was driving.

"I missed you while you were away, you know."

Tyson's eyes flickered over to Hiromi, surprised by her comment, but she was still staring out of the window. He sighed very lightly, and the corners of his lips slipped into a small smile.

"I missed you too."

"Kurai, Lita, keep up!"

Trinity was dashing through the countryside, to the wedding reception, having no means of transport to get there because all the other cars weren't able to fit she, Kai and the kids in together. So, they were running there. The kids seemed able to run at the speed their mother was keeping up, but Kai proved not to be; Trinity supposed the ten kilometer run was just too much for him; after all, he was only human. So after he'd gotten tired, she'd very decently grabbed him around the waist and started carrying him under her arm whilst running.

Her eyes flickered back to check that the twins were still in view. They were; Lita was about three meters ahead of Kurai, however, she seemed to be tiring at a more rapid pace.

"You know, you probably look like some sort of pro-woman's-liberation-dominatrix, carrying me like this," Kai shouted up to her. She grinned down at him in reply and blinked a few times.

"Was that a hint?"

"Heh... You, Trin, will not overpower me. No matter how powerful you are..."

"Yeah? Well, we'll see about that, Hiwatari."

"You sound like your sister."

"My God! That's so tragic..."

"I'm being serious."

"I know. That's why I said that it was tragic," Trinity smirked down on Kai, who scowled back.

"Or perhaps you look more like your mother..."

"I really doubt it. I'd say my parents' sexual libido is almost ready to go legs-up like a dead cockroach. After all, they're almost in their fifties and they've been at it since they were twenty..."

"Yes, but when you DO think back to when they were twenty..."

"I can't remember back that far. I was only a baby back then."

"Good point... but they were a little out-of-control..."

"Well, look at it like this. If they hadn't been a little 'out-of-control', there wouldn't have been anyone around to save your ass eight years ago. You should probably thank them for being the way they were..."

"Oh yeah, and what would I say?" Kai smirked very slightly, "Hey, thanks for having sex, you two. Otherwise I wouldn't have anyone to save me from dying and raise MY children."

"Ha, ha, ha," Trinity said sarcastically, but she looked behind her to make sure the aforementioned children were still in sight. They were; they seemed to be going remarkably well. But then again, they'd been in training since they could walk...

"Well, it's the true facts of life."

"I suppose so... ah, we're almost there," Trinity murmured, slowing down until she came to a complete stop. Kurai and Lita halted also, but they went slightly past where their mother had stopped, not really being able to control their own strength.

"Let's go," Trinity said, dropping Kai, who landed on his hands and knees at her feet. He stayed in that position for a while, and Trinity glanced down again.

"Now that's more like it, bitch."

"Don't even joke," Kai growled, regaining his footing.

"What are you talking about?" Lita asked, wide-eyed.

"I'll tell you when you're older..." Trinity murmured subconsciously.

"Are we going?" Kurai asked sarcastically.

"Definitely your father's son, aren't you?" Trinity replied.

"Yeah we are," Kai said. "Let's go."

After many congratulations and what felt like a million photos, everyone got to sit down in the room that had been set up for the reception. It was a large, dimly lit room, but it radiated its own sort of comfort. Tyson eyed the buffet dinner hopefully, but Hiromi grabbed his arm and yanked him away.

"Speeches and toasts first," she said, taking her seat. Tyson sighed and sat down at his place, next to her, with Lee on his other side.

Kai, Trinity, Emily, Max and the three children of Mariah and Ray sat up at the table for the Bridal Party (AN: That's what it's called... right?) and Amy, Kurai and Lita sat a table close to it, so that they were close to their parents.

There were plenty of people there from the village that they didn't know particularly well, but that was the way it was done. The Elders had chosen not to come, thankfully, because otherwise they would have been inclined to make long, boring speeches.

Finally, it was time for the speeches. Kai stood up, getting ready to do his speech, arms folded across his chest. He only opened his eyes when he reaches the microphone.

"Well, I'm Best Man. And I have absolutely no speech prepared because I only found out I was best man about ten minutes before the wedding started, so thanks a bunch, Ray," Kai smirked sarcastically at Ray, who shrugged idly.

"So, aside from that, I would like to say, off the top of my head, that I always knew this day would come," Kai said, looking at Trinity, who smirked.

"And I will say that it couldn't happen to two people who were better suited to each other. Just by looking at them, you can tell how much they care about each other. I think it should be a lesson to the rest of us..."

Mariah eyed Trinity, and nodded in severe agreement.

"And now, I have nothing left to say," Kai stated simply, and walked back to his seat, regaining his usual pose of closed eyes and folded arms.

"FOOD!" Tyson yelled ecstatically, grabbing the tongs that were used for putting the food on one's plate and shoveling it desperately onto his plate.

Hiromi frowned at Tyson, and simply chose what she wanted and sat back down. Tyson filled his plate until it was almost overflowing, ate it all, and went back for seconds. And thirds, and fourths.

It was hopeless. Everyone simply looked on as Tyson devoured the whole buffet table by himself. After his eighth helping, he suddenly groaned and clutches his stomach.

"Indigestion! Argh!" he moaned pathetically.

The room was suddenly filled with a sea of sweatdrops, while Tyson lay back in his chair and moaned like a ghost.

Suddenly, music sounded from the loudspeakers, and Kai sighed. Trinity recognized it as 'It Was You' By Ashley Ballard.

"Dancing... I hate dancing... it's for wimps..."

Trinity laughed lightly and her parents hurrying towards the dance floor.

"They obviously don't think so."

"It's their wedding... they're supposed to dance."

"You know that the best man and the matron of honor are supposed to dance, right?" asked Trinity. Kai looked at Emily with a look of intense dislike, and she looked at him with the same resentfulness.

"Aww, come on Kai," Trinity laughed, as Max grabbed her hand and whisked her away to dance, "Have some fun!"

"Easy for you to say..."

Ray and Mariah were slowly dancing with each other, seemingly murmuring the song to each other, with Mariah's head leaning against Ray's chest. Trinity was red in the face and giggling as Max whisked her around the dance floor in a much more energetic dance than the married couple were partaking in. After that, Lee snatched Mariah from Ray and danced with her, and Max picked Amy up and danced with her, both of them giggling in a very Max-like way. Ray picked up Kirra and Trin with a bit of effort, one in each arm and danced around with them a bit until the added fifty kilos of carrying both of them around got to him and he had to put them down. Marth seemed completely uninterested in dancing; once Amy had been released by Max, she, Marth and Lita ran around, hyperactively trying to catch each other as they ducked under the tables and ran down the nearby hall that led to the toilets and locked themselves in the cubicles until whoever was chasing them gave up. Eventually Kirra gave in and joined her brother and the other two girls with the psychopathic game, as did Trinity. However, Kurai simply sat and watched, occasionally chasing them away if they came to close to him, for the sake of showing off.

Kai eventually gave in and gave a belated dance to Emily, who afterwards wandered off to dance with her own husband, and he then grabbed Trinity and slowly waltzed around with her for a while. She leaned her head against his chest and rubbed against it in a very feline way, and he smiled down on her, gently kissing the top of her head.

Ray and Mariah watched their friends, with the air of contentment surrounding them, their hands tightly intertwined.

"Want to go out to the balcony?" Ray whispered into Mariah ear. She nodded, so he stood up and pulled her to her feet also. Then, the two newlyweds wandered idly out to the balcony.

Mariah's eyes gleamed like the stars that could be seen twinkling in the ebony sky outside, and the cold night air blew a few of the soft pink tendrils of her hair across her face. Ray brushed them away delicately, and sat down on the bench that was positioned on the balcony for people like the, who were simply content to be together and watch the stars.

"I'm glad everything went well today," Mariah whispered, snuggling closer to Ray for body heat. Ray could tell that she was cold, so he took of the jacket from his tux and placed it gently around her shoulders. (AN: Ray in a tux! has a drooling fit and faints)

"So am I," he said, smiling at her. His eyes were shining the way only his eyes could possibly shine, so Mariah leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips, which he eagerly returned. Once they had broken the kiss, Mariah gently ran the tips of her fingers over Ray's cheek and smiled at him in a loving way. Ray smiled at her and placed his warm hand on her cheek, and slowly ran it downwards, over her neck, shoulder and her breasts, finally ending the trail at her waist.

He then used the appropriate position of his hand to pull her onto her lap and draw her into a soft kiss. His hands roamed her body and pulled her closer, so she wrapped her arms securely around Ray's neck and kissed him back.

And because of this, neither of them noticed the strange apparition in the sky until it was too late...

"So we have arrived."

"It seems quite a shame to destroy something so tranquil..." Pyrus muttered to his superiors, who gave him deadly glares in return.

"I don't know why we took you on," Varsha hissed at him angrily, "You're an over-emotional fool."

"We took him on because he was the best new recruit," Xan snapped, ending the fight between his two juniors. Pyrus looked almost proud, but Varsha gave him a hard look and his face once again melded back to show no emotion.

"Well, we've delayed enough already. You know what we're here to do."

"Yes."

"We'd better go and get it over with, then, and reap the benefits when we tell the Master of our handiwork."

Meanwhile, Ray had managed to pin Mariah to the seat they'd been sitting on, and was kissing her while rubbing her back softly. Mariah still had her arms locked around Ray's neck, but now her fingers had trailed to his hair, which she was messing up playfully.

Ray wasn't sure what it was, but at that point, he opened his left eyes and glanced sharply at the stars. There was something that wasn't about the star his eyes were currently locked on...

It was bright red, and seemed to be traveling towards he and Mariah at a tremendous pace. He sat up, and Mariah seemed annoyed at first, until she followed his gaze and saw the bright red sparkle.

Suddenly, it was right in front of them, and the three strangest looking people either of them had ever laid eyes on were hovering in front of them.

"Hello," the one in the middle smirked, obviously meant to be male, and obviously the leader of the three said to them, but it wasn't kind... it was ruthless and cruel tone of voice.

He then held his hand out, pointing it directly and Mariah and Ray, and his accomplices did the same.

"Mariah..." Ray whispered.

"Yes?" she whispered back. Her voice was shaking.

"Run."

A red-coloured blast suddenly shot from the people's hands, and Ray pushed Mariah out of the way, so she stumbled and began running, and Ray followed closely behind her. The blast brushed past his shoulder with about two centimeters to spare, and he winced as he felt one of the other blasts skim his shoulder. Blood stained the white shirt he was wearing, but he continued to run until he was back at the room where the reception was being held.

Trinity eyed her parents with the utmost suspicion, and saw her father's shoulder cut and bleeding.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"Three people... they're chasing us..." Mariah whispered, obviously traumatized.

Trinity gritted her teeth together and stood at the entrance to the hallway, waiting for the attackers to come inside... if they knew that she was here... they would expect an ambush...

Suddenly, Trin, Kirra and Marth stood up, walking over to stand beside her. Trinity snarled at the three but they ignored her.

"You three... get out of here. Go with your parents, understand me?"

The three kids looked rather disgruntled, but complied.

"And you two..." Trinity snapped at her own two children who had wandered up and stood next to her, ready to help, "Go with your father."

Kai abruptly ran up and grabbed both of his children and tugged them away. Everyone else had left the room, leaving it eerily silent.

Trinity stood; ready to lunge at any moving object, her eyes flickering around for any signs of life. A plate behind her dropped to the floor and shattered, causing her to spin around, and giving Xan time to lunge from his hiding place and grip her around the neck.

"So, this is where you've been hiding it. Very clever, Kintora. You held us off for almost a fortnight. But tonight, it finishes," Xan spat in her face, and tightened the grip around her neck.

Trinity managed to grin, causing Xan's face to become furious and slightly questioning.

"You're... so stupid!" she whispered. Her captor's face twisted into hatred and he used his other hand to punch her out of his own grip and into the hallway wall.

The blow had cut Trinity's temple and eyebrow, and her lip was bleeding. And yet, she sat up and laughed.

"You came here alone... you're pathetic on your own... I'll kill you."

"Varsha, Pyrus."

The two people who had been called upon stepped out from behind the corner of the hallway and smirked down on Trinity, looking completely domineering. For a moment, a flicker of terror flashed through Trinity's eyes, but she blinked and it was gone.

"Good try. But you won't get me this time. And you won't get The Star."

Trinity then shut her eyes, and in a golden flash, was gone from their vision.

Xan snarled, looking around at nothing, but e stared through the wall of the hallway and a psychotic grin emerged on his lips.

"She's still here... and I know she has the Star..."

'Aa, but that's where your wrong,' Trinity's voice danced with mirth inside Xan, Pyrus and Varsha's heads.

"Find her!" Xan screamed, and Varsha and Pyrus nodded and rushed off to search the rest of the building.

"I'll get you Kintora..." Xan snarled, clenching his fist. "And I will claim this world and the Bit Beast World as my own!"

Kai blinked; Trinity had appeared beside him, breathing heavily, with blood dripping from the cuts on her face.

"What...?"

"No time now... where's Dad and Mum?"

"They're still in here, but everyone else has run off. They stayed to make sure you were alright."

"It doesn't matter... they aren't after the others... they're after my parents..."

"Why are they...?"

"I told you days ago!" Trinity snapped, trying to wipe the blood off her face but simply smearing it over her face, making it look like war paint.

Kai's eyes flashed with remembrance, and he nodded.

"I'll go find them. I sent the kids with them just in case."

"Good, we'll both go and find them."

Trinity and Kai dashed desperately from room to room, checking every corner, nook and cranny as they searched for their friends.

Trinity dashed into the woman's restroom, pushing open the double doors so forcefully that they snapped off their hinges. In there, she found her father sitting on the bench with the sinks set into it without a shirt on, his breathing raspy from pain. Mariah was desperately ripping strips off her wedding dress and wetting them, sponging the blood off Ray's shoulder and tying the strips around his shoulder in a futile attempt to numb the bleeding. Trin, Kirra and Marth sat near their parents with her own children, looking worried but alert. Kurai and Lita simply looked alert, stiffening when their mother burst through the door but relaxing when they realized it was her.

'Kai, I found...' Trinity halted, realizing that he no longer had Dranzer in his bit chip, therefore making communication in that way impossible.

"I'll go find Kai. We're out of here. Be ready to go when I get back," she commanded, and pointed at Ray at the same time. The cut closed itself and become merely a paper-thin scar.

"There, I healed the cut, now, all of you group together and be ready to be amazed when I return."

Trinity caught up with Kai, who had been checking the male restroom, and dragged him almost angrily back to the female equivalent of the room she'd found him in.

"They're in here."

"The girl's bathroom?"

"Oh, for God's sake Kai, swallow your pride."

"Humph..."

Trinity kicked what remained of the doors off their hinges, and dashed into the room, where all the people she'd left there were grouped together. Kai's eyes widened very slightly, and her murmured, "Don't tell me you're taking them to the..."

However, he never got to finish, because Trinity had grabbed the two people standing next to her- Kai and Mariah, and shouted loudly.

"FUTURE!"

Kai felt the now familiar rush of strange warm air that told him that he was going back. Back to Trinity's time, back to Trinity's family. Except, this time, there were a few more people that were along for the ride.

'Hope you're in for a surprise, Kirralee and Martheo...' he thought, before closing his eyes and giving in to the rush that told him he was going back... or should it be forward...? Either way, he was going back to the place and time he now called home...

Next chapter: Kirra and Marth reappear!


	5. Back to their future

PRESENT HOPE (as I'm sure you know)

The best way to describe the building that Ray found himself standing in front of now was LARGE and WHITE.

"Home sweet home," Trinity muttered, grinning as she walked up to the front door and kicked it open in an, "I don't care" fashion.

"So, this is what we would have accomplished if you hadn't rescued us..." Ray muttered softly, glancing up at the building. "Not too bad."

"You should be thankful that we rescued you guys. Otherwise you would have been in some seriously deep shit," Trinity commented.

"Umm, will Kirra and Marth be here?" Mariah questioned, attempting to salvage the tattered shreds of what was left of her wedding dress from the mud.

"I sent them out on missions before I left, but Marth should be back by now; I gave him the bludge job. If Kiz isn't back yet she will be soon."

"I see... why do you give Marth the easy jobs?" Ray asked, noticing that his son looked rather discouraged.

"Because Mum would never speak to me again if anything happened to 'her little cherub'," Trinity replied, and Ray didn't miss the slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"... I think I need to release him from my apron strings. I mean, he must into his twenties now..." Mariah began, but Trinity interrupted.

"He's twenty-four. And Kiz it twenty-five. I'm twenty-seven. Me and Kiz have no proof to this, but we reckon Mum sews 'LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU WHORE' into the front of Marth's boxers, just in case."

"Aa." Ray's response was short, sharp and by his tone, he sounded slightly embarrassed.

Trinity eyed her mother, who looked like she'd been dragged through an extremely thorny bush backwards, closed her eyes in slight thought.

"You five should all get changed. Those clothes must be Hell annoying to wear for such a long time."

"You're right there," Marth snarled, yanking his pants back up around his waist indignantly.

"I'll get you the training clothes than the Senshi wear..." Trinity mumbled absently wandering away, and around a corner. Eight other pairs of eyes followed her as she rounded the corner. Suddenly, Ray and Mariah felt rather awkward with this whole situation. After careful consideration, they both decided that they had ended up better of in their own timeline. If they had been in their own shoes, so to speak, they would be living in constant fear that their children would be killed, or targeted by various people or organizations for tests because of their 'abnormalities'. Barely anyone in their own village knew about their children's true prowess, and they knew they would regret it if the secret ever got out and was widely spread. The Elders would probably be proud of them... fathering and mothering the legendary golden counterpart of Driger...

But it wouldn't be worth the price the kids would have to pay for it...

The heavy clicking of Trinity's thick combat boots on the tiled floor brought them both back to their senses. When she re-entered the room, she tossed all five members of the present timeline Kon family what looked more like the clothing Ray and Mariah had grown up wearing that anything else, except they were black, and trimmed with gold and red. Ray held his up, surveying the clothing with a reproving look on his face. Mariah tucked hers under her arm, ready to go and put them on, or perhaps she was just unwilling to look at them. The kids gave the clothes sideways glances; heck, clothes were clothes and all clothes could be ruined! And that was all that mattered when you were kids, right?

Trinity eyed the five people, she could tell they were discontent but she didn't really care; that's all they had so it was all they were going to get.

"I'll show you to some spare rooms where you can get changed," Trinity supposed.

"That'd be good," Kirra snapped sarcastically, pressing the Mandarin style top over her scrawny little chest to check for size.

'Jeez, she didn't change much with age," Trinity commented, "Except for maybe getting slightly better at smart-ass comebacks."

Trinity started walking away, and made no signal for anyone to follow her, but Kirra assumed that she was showing them all to where there could get changed, so she tailed her, and the rest of her family followed.

After walking for about five minutes, Trinity stopped so suddenly that Kirra almost crashed straight into her.

"These four rooms should be empty. I'm assuming that you two..." she looked at Ray and Mariah, "... would rather share a room than make your children do so? After all, you just got married." Trinity's eyes flickered across her parents, who stood uncomfortably, eying each other but breaking the eye contact when their gazes locked. Trinity's lips curled into a smile.

"Plus you still have that garter on. And you know who's supposed to take that off for you."

Trinity pointed at Ray and Mariah, and they suddenly felt rigid. Ray attempted to move but couldn't.

"So, in you go!" Trinity smirked, and she flicked her hand towards the open door at the same time. Ray and Mariah's feet left the ground and they were 'flicked' unwillingly into the room.

Trin watched on with fascination. Once her parents were in the room and the door was closed and locked, she looked down at her own hands and then stared up at the older version of herself.

"I can do that?"

"It takes a little bit of practice, but I'm sure you can manage it, kid," Trinity commented, grinning very slightly. Trin nodded, and quickly pointed at her brother, who froze on the spot. Trin then flicked her hand a little too hard and sent her little brother slamming into the wall.

"Ow! TRIN!" Marth whined, and Trin shrugged in return.

"Hey, I wanted to try it out and you were closest."

"Okay, now you try that on me," Trinity said, and it sounded more like an order than a request. Trin pointed to Trinity, who merely flinched. Trin flicked her arm towards the opposite wall that she'd thrown Marth into, but Trinity didn't move. In fact, she held up her hand and wriggled her fingers, just to prove Trin had no control over her.

"It works best when the person is at a lower level of strength to yourself."

Marth pouted, and Trin stuck out her chest proudly.

"But now, you three get dressed."

Trinity pointed to Marth, and then to the nearest empty room, and he flew in. She then moved to Kirra, who followed suit and flew into the nearest empty room like her brother. Trinity then moved to the younger version of herself. She pointed to Trin, but Trin fended in the nick of time.

Trinity folded her arms across her chest and smirked.

"Good fend."

Trin nodded and wriggled her fingers much in the same way that Trinity had done before, to show that she was under her own control.

Trinity continued to smirk, and she suddenly and violently pointed to Trin who froze.

"But why did you let your guard down?"

Trinity then sent the last of the Kon family into the rooms to get changed out of their ruined formalwear.

Ray and Mariah, after detangling their various limbs and staring at each other for a while out of embarrassment of being dismissed so quickly after going through years of training in days gone by.

"This is so strange... this is nothing like we're living through," Mariah said, finally trying to make conversation with her husband.

"At least our wedding finally turned out to plan... up to the end at least," Ray laughed very slightly at their reasonably good fortune.

"Speaking of which, are you alright? Those creepy... things hurt you," Mariah said, pausing mid-sentence to try and determine what to call the beings they had seen but she was unable to imagine what they could have been.

Ray smiled, but as he noticed the look on Mariah's face it slowly faded to be replaced with a rather mischievous grin.

"I see where you're coming from, Mari..."

Mariah crawled closer and matched the smirk that Ray had on his face.

"Do you, now?"

"Yes indeed I do. And I think you have a very dirty mind."

Mariah laughed as she finally reached Ray and flopped down so that her head rested on his lap.

"Well, young man, back when I was twenty..." she started in a sarcastic voice, but Ray hushed her with a gentle placing of his index finger to her lips.

"Don't talk about the past, Mari. Focus on what is ahead of us."

"If this is what lies ahead of us, I can't really say that I'm looking forward to it," Mariah made a displeased face and surveyed her surroundings... not very comforting...

"Trinity has already told us that it's different back home," Ray reassured, taking the opportunity to pull her closer and kiss the top of her head, "We have barely seen any violent activity at home for seven years."

"Aside from the whole post-apocalyptic revolution thing we did in this timeline, I really can't see any great difference," Mariah stated pointedly.

"And for that I am truly grateful," Ray said with strong finality.

"Why are you so happy about that?"

"Because I'm glad I don't have to live every day in and out, worrying for my children's lives because of what they do and what they are."

Mariah nodded, and sudden shivers shook her body and she pressed closer to Ray, suddenly feeling her blood run cold.

"Are you okay?" Ray questioned.

"I just feel a little cold..." Mariah murmured, but it came out sounding more seductive than pitiable.

"Aww..." Ray purred, bending his head to kiss the nape of her neck. "My poor baby..."

Mariah felt like laughing out loud at Ray's choice of words, but she her brain went compliantly blank as his warm embrace encased her body and soul.

Her body went passively limp to match her empty mind as he kissed her and pulled her close. So close, that his heartbeat could be felt shuddering against her arm.

Her hands became loosely entangled in his hair and she shuddered as he felt his hand going lower... lower... lower...

Enter the flurried thumps on the door.

"MUM!" resounded through the otherwise quiet atmosphere, as well as the snarl of, "Come here, you little runt!"

Mariah sighed inwardly and broke away from Ray.

"I wish our children wouldn't try to kill each other."

"Maybe they'll grow out of it," Ray suggested hopefully.

"From what I've seen, I don't think they do."

"True," Ray sighed.

"We'd better hurry up, so we can prevent the impending carnage."

When Ray and Mariah finally found their ways back to where their children were, they found them sitting completely still, on one of the couches, with Trinity standing directly in front of them in what looked like some sort of fighting stance. Trinity turned her head to look at them, and relaxed. Immediately after that, the three kids groaned and began loosening out their limbs. Kai sat on the couch opposite to the one the Kon children were sitting on and looked down at his own children, who were sitting either side of him, obediently, although Lita was fidgeting rather violently.

"Sorry about that, but I was driving me insane," Trinity smirked.

"Well, you three are a bit of a handful at times..." Ray murmured.

"A bit of a handful? I would give one of my kidneys to be able to do that!" Mariah stated, her face adorned by wide-eyed wonderment.

Trinity smiled, but suddenly snapped around to face the window.

"Down."

"Pardon?" Ray questioned.

"I advise you get down," Trinity stated, her voice low and void of emotion.

Mariah nodded, and followed Kai, who was ducking behind the couch with Lita and Kurai. Trinity and Marth followed her, but Kirra didn't. Instead, she stood transfixed on the large window in front of her, not blinking or moving at all. Ray's eyes widened as he rushed out from undercover to grab her. Once he touched her she snapped out of her trance and followed his lead of hiding behind the couch.

Trinity remained in the middle of the room, glaring out the window, obviously concentrating on whatever was coming their way.

"What is it? An attack?" Ray whispered to Kai, who slowly shook his head.

"Not really, but I suppose you could call it that."

"Well, then what is it?" Mariah hissed.

"She's making her triumphant entrance," Kai stated simply.

"Who...?" Ray began, but never finished. The glass of the window at the front of the room shattered under the speeding force of what appeared to be a large black motorcycle. Glass particles shattered around the room and glistened like diamonds in the neon lights on the roof.

The person that got off the bike dumped it haphazardly in the middle of the rug that adorned the centre of the room with a resounding noise of things clunking and breaking. He or she was tall- very tall, just a little under six foot, probably. But who cared who it was? This maniac could have killed everyone!

"What the Hell? Are you crazy?" Ray yelled, standing up and snarling at the offender.

The helmeted head tipped backwards and, although the words were severely muffled by the headgear, Ray was sure the person had replied, "Of course, I thought you knew that."

Mariah's eyes widened and began to stand up. Once she was back on her feet, she looked at the person and smirked.

"I know your voice."

"So you should," came the muffled reply, and the person reached up to take off the helmet.

Pink hair, dashed with blue.

Golden eyes.

Smirking mouth, seemingly made more prominent by the pointed fangs that adorned the corners of her lips.

"AUNTY KIZ!" Lita screamed, and in a violent blur of slate coloured hair, she had attached herself to Kirralee's leg. Kirra yelped jokingly and began to shake her leg violently.

"Argh! Someone help me! I'm being attacked by the spawn of Hiwatari!"

The expected response from Kai echoed through the room ("Humph") but by then no one was really paying any attention to him.

Kirra's eyes fell upon the younger versions of her siblings, as well as her chibi self.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

She frowned as her eyes travelled upwards (only slightly mind you) to skim over her younger parents.

"I definitely didn't expect to see you two here."

Mariah raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"I never thought I'd see myself looking up to you, but it seems it's turned out that way, hasn't it?"

Mariah was indeed right; her second-eldest daughter beat her in height by at least five inches. She also beat out her father, but by only about an inch and a half.

"You've grown," Ray commented matter-of-factly and Kirra smirked.

"Don't ask me how I got so tall. To be totally honest with you, you two are both pretty short so don't ask how I ended up being the bloody giant."

"You got my height as well," Trinity muttered, and she was probably right, seeing that she was only slightly taller than Mariah was.

"Is Marth taller than you as well?" Ray grinned at Trinity, who snarled.

"Yes, and I don't want to talk about it. I'm eldest, and I'm like a midget compared to my siblings..."

"Speaking of Marth," Kai suddenly cut in, "Wasn't he planning to kill you if you stole his bike again, Kirra?"

"I'd like to see him try," Kirra tossed her hair back over her shoulder and surveyed the ruined bike like an obsessive compulsive surveying a fingerprint on an otherwise clean window.

"And Mum and Dad will kill you for busting that window for the..." Trinity started, but Kirra finished for her.

"For the seventh time, I know. Jeez, you're all acting like I did something stupid or life-threatening or something..."

Kai opened his mouth, but shut it again when Trinity gave him a look. Kirra shrugged (shrugging appeared to be her resolution to every problem) and flopped down on the nearest couch, closed her eyes and put her feet up on the armrest at the end. Caked dirt and grime flew from her boots and onto the spotless couch, making Trinity winced. Lita had finally let go of Kirra's leg and was now sitting on the floor near her aunt's head.

"So..." Ray began, after a minute of silence, "That thing is Marth's?" He gestured to the black bike that was lying wrecked on the floor and Kirra opened one eye to survey him, before nodding.

"Yes, the little vroom-vroom bike is Marthie's. He saved up so, so hard to get it, only..."

"To have it wrecked by you every time you get a mission," Trinity hissed.

Kirra shrugged and re-closed her one open eye.

"It was there, so I made full use of the fact. I could have gotten there quicker without it, but you wouldn't want me to get all run down from lack of power, would you?"

Trinity sighed, it was hopeless to try and make her sister feel guilty about anything.

"You and I both know that Marth will be back here any moment and that he is going to THRASH you when he finds out you've betrayed his trust again."

Kirra yawned. Trinity rolled her eyes and extended her arm at her sister.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Kirralee Kon."

"Don't call me by first and last name," Kirra hissed, obviously figuring that this was worth opening her eyes for. She then crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

"Kirralee Kon... that sounds so stupid!"

"Sounds kind of like a brand of car..." Trinity mused lightly, and received a glare from her pink haired sibling.

Trinity smirked, and her eyes flickered towards the door.

"Well, you'd better get ready to explain to Marth again..."

Kirra let out a long, world-weary sigh, and opened both her eyes, obviously waiting for her brother to come in and see the destruction that had befallen to his bike.

But her not-so baby brother entered the room and she immediately shut them again; Ray doubted that she was scared; perhaps she was just playing innocent for the time being.

Okay, the first thing Mariah noticed about the man who was more or less her son was that he was also tall; as Trinity had suggested, he was not as tall as Kirra but he came damn close. She could also tell that he'd grown more muscular (AN: XD Smecksay!) and his eyes were a slightly darker shade of gold than they had been, but otherwise he was still the person she remembered him to be.

But before he even acknowledged the existence of his visitors, he noticed that his young niece has affectively locked his legs together with her arms. Once he had managed to release himself, he noticed his dearly beloved vehicle literally falling to pieces on the floor. Not only that, but it was leaking fuel all over the carpet- it was more than just damage to the framework and paint this time.

"KIZ!" he snapped, snarling at the very deepest note his voice could reach to. Mariah blinked and rubber her eyes- was this the same person?

"Aa, I see- you're surprised that he doesn't talk like a girl anymore," Trinity nodded understandingly. Marth turned his attention to his eldest sister and gave her a dark-golden glare.

"I did not talk like a girl," he murmured.

"Yes you did. Your voice had a higher pitch than mine," Kirra accused.

"Yeah, but your voice sounds like one that'd suit a phone sex operator," Marth snapped back.

"And how would you know what one of those sounded like, Marthie?" Kirra questioned innocently. Marth glared at Kirra, but she didn't seem to really give a damn.

"So anyway... where was I? Oh yes, KIZ HOW DARE YOU!" Marth thought for a moment before once again exploding at his pink-haired sibling, who sighed.

"I didn't do it. Why would I want to steal that heap of crap?"

"Now, now Kiz, what did Mum and Dad always say to you?"

"Be good. For the love of God, please be good?" Kirra said innocently. "Or is it, 'Curiosity didn't kill the cat- it made the kittens', this time?"

Trinity face-palmed and sighed. "Let me rephrase that. What did they always TEACH you?"

"That talk is cheap but lies can cost you, right?" Kirra questioned. Trinity nodded, and Kirra sighed. She knew that if she didn't owe up, Marth would go and whinge to her parents who would then come down and yell at her like she was a three year old...

'You are a three year old. Personality-wise at least.'

'Shut up,' Kirra snarled back to her sister.

"Marthie, I ruined the bike, purely for the reasons of pissing you off. Happy now Trin?" Kirra started off sounding sincere to the core but her faux act of gentility soon ended as she turned back to face her older sibling who nodded. Marth looked angry for a moment before he hung his head and sighed in an act of submission.

"I'll never win."

"That's right!" Kirra grinned proudly.

"Speaking of winning Marthie, guess what you get to do for three weeks starting tomorrow!" Trinity chimed in, while their three young counterparts, Kurai, Lita, Kai, Mariah and Ray watched on. Watching the three nitpick and henpeck seemed to be entertainment in its own right.

"What?" Marth asked without the slightest bit of interest.

"Train the new recruits!"

"Son of a..." Marth began, before he regained his composure and slumped down on the couch. "Half of those losers couldn't open a can of soft drink, judging by the amount of strength they possess."

"Don't you think I would know that better than you? I'm the one who has to dig through their stupid application forms to find more likely pupils for the ranks," Trinity sighed.

"At least you're paid to be the Boss," Kirra murmured, "We're volunteers."

All three fell silent, before they gave three synchronised sighs and slumped in their seats.

"It's very late," Trinity finally sighed. "I'll take you to those spare rooms I let you get changed in earlier."

Trinity led the guests away, with Kai, Kurai and Lita trailing almost obediently behind, and Marth and Kirra gladly claimed the two soft couches. They both collapsed and stretched and yawned in very feline ways, and then they finally rolled over for a well-deserved rest.

A silence filled the room, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Seeing that is was in the very early hours of the morning, everyone generally wanted peace and quiet. Kirralee snuggled into the generously soft couch and yawned. It was too late to be climbing all those stairs to her room... no one would mind if she just dozed off for a little while...

"Miss Kirralee!"

The voice that rang out, and probably would have surprised any normal person, but Kirra and Marth barely flinched. Perhaps they were expecting it, or were accustomed to the sound of the voice. Kirra sighed and reopened her eyes, looking even more tired than she had before.

"How does he always know when we get back...?"

Marth yawned and rolled over, but not before murmuring, "He hasn't got anything better to do with his life..."

A man entered the room, and he was possibly the only person taller than Kirralee in the whole Senshi ranks. The two gold hoops that adorned his right ear showed his Senshi rank, but were partly covered by his dark brown hair. But perhaps the most striking thing about this man's appearance were his eyes... alive, and of the deepest blue that you would probably ever see. And when he saw Marth and Kirra, his eyes lit up so they danced in the foxfire.

"Kirralee! Marth! I found you!"

"Oh joy..." Kirra snarled under her breath.

"I've kind of been giving something a lot of thought, would you mind if I ran it past you?"

'Of course not, after all, it's only past midnight and we've both been away for a week...' Kirra thought, but she nodded. It would be semi-decent of her to humour the poor kid.

"I want to apply to move up to The Elite."

"Look, Kamali..." Kirra sighed as she finally opened her eyes and stared at him, "For one thing, you need at least three of these..." she reached up and gave a quick tug on one of the three gold hoops that was hanging off her right ear, and then a quick tug to the single one that adorned her left ear.

"Then there's two weeks of trials, and after that you get assigned to a particular group of Elites, I know," Kamali finished for her. "I'm only a mission or two from moving up a rank anyway."

'God help us if we get stuck with him,' Kirra heard Marth's voice echo in the back of her mind, and she jerked her head in agreement.

"Are you guys going to train tomorrow?" Kamali persisted.

Kirra sighed, "I don't know yet."

"Well, if you do, can you tell me? I love watching you guys train, your strength is just incredible and..."

"Alright, alright!" Kirra snapped. Marth was still facing away and doing his best to block out Kamali and Kirra's voices.

"Okay, thanks!"

"Don't mention it... c'mon Marth. We'd better get to bed," Kirra yawned.

Marth nodded in agreement without opening his eyes and swung his legs back around so that they rested on the ground.

"Do you want me to help you, Kirra?" Kamali questioned. Kirra grinned and walked over to the ruined motorcycle, and hoicked it off the ground with little effort.

"You could always carry this for me."

"Of course!"

Kirra smirked and dumped the bike into his outstretched arms, and Kamali was immediately stumbling under its weight.

"Well, come on! We haven't got all night..." Kirra said sarcastically. Marth simply put an expression on his face somewhere between exhaustion and boredom and began scaling the nearby set of stairs, with Kirra trailing behind him.

Kamali dragged the bike up the stairs after Kirra and Marth with obvious effort, but after a bit of strain he managed to catch up to them.

"You two aren't normal, are you?"

'Smart boy,' Kirra echoed in Marth's head.

"Of course we are, what makes you think there's something abnormal about us?" Marth asked, and Kirra wasn't surprised to hear the hint or sarcasm in his voice.

'I've been hanging around you for way too long, Kiz,' Marth sighed, and the corners of Kirra's lips twitched into a smile.

"Because you bleed silver? And because you have no trouble completing tasks that have anything to do with strength or wit?"

"Well maybe we're just gifted," Kirra snapped sarcastically.

"That still doesn't explain why your blood is silver," Kamali stated bluntly.

"You're quite right."

"And...?"

"Is it any of your business?"

Kamali shut his mouth, not really knowing how to respond to that. Marth nodded contentedly as he reached his room.

"Goodnight, Kiz. You owe me."

"See you in the morning, kid," Kirra replied.

Kirra walked the few metres down to her own room and stretched before turning the handle on the door.

"Kirralee?"

"What?" she snapped at Kamali, who looked rather hurt.

"Do you think I'll get accepted into the Elite?"

"If you're lucky..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In case you forgot, the Elite are only chosen once every month. You'll have to be the very best to get in because you'll have some tough competition."

"Okay, thank you, Kirralee."

Kirra nodded slightly, and retreated into her room. Kamali sighed blissfully and looked down at the bike in his hand.

"Okay... what am I supposed to do with this?"

Kamali likes Kiz... but you shall have to wait to see if she wizens up


	6. And So It Begins

You should know by now that I do not own Beyblade, but I do own Kiz, Theo, Trin and Kamali.

Oh, these are lyrics

PRESENT HOPE

Trinity stood outside, on one of the many balconies of the Senshi Ranks; letting the cool morning updrafts brush her long red tresses over her face. These balconies, which were built more as lookout points than places where the tenants of the building could enjoy the stunning views, were probably the best place where one could come to think without interruption, unless it was by another dreamer, worrier or theorist.

No one would come looking for her, but she was surprised that Kai wasn't up here thinking with her after what she had convinced him to do, last night. It has taken a fair bit of 'persuasion' on her behalf, and what better way to persuade a male, but from the way he'd acted afterwards she could tell that she was going to ask... she wasn't the only one who realized that he would have to go and visit Voltaire sooner or later.

He was in a prison, back in Kai's own true timeline as far as they knew, and if he'd escaped or been granted parole they would have heard from the bit beasts. Dranzer was rather cautious of the old man, who had entrusted him to Kai after months of experiments. The basic aim of these experiments was to discover the true power behind the Holy Beings, and the results of the experiments had ultimately been Wolborg, Wyborg, Falborg and Seaborg.

Not only were her thought plagued by the strain of what she had to do almost immediately, they were also overwhelmed by the thought of what she knew she had to do in the very near future...

Trinity stared up at the heavens and knew by instinct that it was later in the morning... probably somewhere between nine and ten o'clock. If that was indeed the case, she'd been up here for a good two hours.

'Everyone will be looking for me... I'd better go back before they begin to worry,' she thought, and resolutely turned towards the door and went through, determined not to let the things she knew she had to do, and to focus on the matters at hand... she would take everything one step at a time.

"So..." Xan started, looking towards his comrades with dead black eyes. "We've followed them here. Now what do we do?"

"We wait until we've recharged and then go after the chosen two," Varsha stated simply to her leader, who nodded. Pyrus said nothing, instead choosing this time to hold his tongue.

"We've got a plan of action, and it will be put into place exactly twelve hours from now."

"Nine thirty at night?" Pyrus questioned, unable to control his curiosity.

"Nine thirty-seven, actually. Your internal timer must be slightly off."

"But right now, you will not worry about that..." Varsha cut in between her two 'male' companions. "What you will worry about now, Pyrus, is going back to the creator and telling him to send the others."

"I will do that immediately," Pyrus stated evenly, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"I don't know what the creator was thinking when he made those updated models. They have too much human spirit in them," Varsha commented.

"They were made specifically for camouflage, which is why they look slightly closer to being human also. They were basically designed for covert type missions until the creator came across their unusually high peak of strength."

"I see, but as the human race sometimes say... nothing beats the 'original'?" Varsha smirked.

Xan closed his eyes and put an expression on his face that was somewhere between an unusual smile of amusement and a cruel smirk.

"You are indeed correct. And we are the proof."

"Um... Kirralee?"

Kirra sighed and prayed to God that she'd just hallucinated Kamali's voice behind her.

"Yes?"

"You were born out of wedlock, weren't you?"

"Is that really any of your business?"

"It's a sin?" Kamali questioned.

"How would you know that?"

"Why else would you respond in the way you did?" Kamali asked innocently.

Kirra sighed and prepared to explain it in the best way she could. "In our village it was, but the Elders weren't around while we were conceived and there wasn't exactly any available means of... contraception," Kirra explained, blushing slightly at what she was doing. Who the Hell discussed their parents sex lives with someone they knew purely as a face in the crowd, or more a stalker type admirer of the family? Someone as crazy as her, right?

"And after the Elders did come back?"

"They were too busy annoying Mum and Dad to get married, rather than getting peevish at them for having us. We were there, we were Mum and Dad's kids, and there wasn't exactly anything they could do about that."

"Kill your parents to regain the honour of their clan and give you to a foster family?" Kamali said, and it sounded more of a question than a suggestion.

"Why the Hell would they want to do that!" Kirra questioned, turning around on her heel while speaking to look the man directly in the eye.

Kamali looked surprised for a brief moment, but then relaxed and stared back at her, with intense amber meeting electric blue.

"It's what they did to my parents."

Kirra raised her eyebrows and sighed, turning back around simultaneously.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Kamali said, with his voice completely void of emotion, "I didn't actually know until my foster parents died two years ago and I saw both sets' of parents wills."

"Two years... how long have you been here?"

"Since my foster parents' death."

"I didn't realize that you'd been here that long... I thought maybe you were just a prodigy... one of the recruits that moves up ranks quickly," Kirra explained, noting Kamali's questioning look.

"Well, perhaps you haven't been visiting the lower ranks as much as you should," Kamali grinned. Kirra noted that it was the first time she'd actually seen him smile... and it actually made him look rather... intriguing, and attractive in an immature sort of way.

'Did I just think that? Holy shit, I am losing it.' Kirra sighed to herself.

'What did you just think?' both her siblings' voices echoed in her mind simultaneously.

'Nothing!' she snapped back.

She could almost feel her brother's amusement, as he replied, 'Of course not,' and left her alone. Trinity made no reply, but that was understandable, because Kirra obviously knew what was going through her head.

"Kirralee?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry... got lost in thought..." she murmured, looking downwards and hoping the bright pink of her hair would camouflage the crimson tint that had just appeared on her cheeks.

"I was asking that if you were free today, could you please help me train for my entrance examination for the Elite?"

"I was actually thinking of going shopping..."

"That can come later," Kamali stated firmly.

Kirra glared up at him once more and snarled, "Who died and gave you charge of my life?"

Kamali looked slightly downhearted, but persisted.

"Only an hour?"

"Forty-five minutes, and you've got yourself a deal, kid," Kirra replied.

"Fine. Deal," Kamali said cheerfully, and held out his hand. Kirra hesitated, but took it eventually and they shook on the promise.

"I've got to go see Daddy now," Kirra muttered.

"Daddy?" Kamali questioned sarcastically.

"You know, Kon Rei, also known as Raymond Kon, joint-founder of this organisation and the man who gave me life by means of falling in love with my mother and..." Kirra began with equal sarcasm, but Kamali cut in at a rather appropriate time.

"I get the picture. I'll come with you, and then we can go straight down to the training rooms from here," Kamali said.

"Whatever floats your boat," Kirra replied, and she started off down the hallway towards her parents' quarters, which were heavily guarded, due to the fact that many enemies of theirs seemed intent on killing them.

"Given name?" one of the guards asked sharply.

"Kirralee Mao Kon."

"ID number?"

"26573."

"What about him?" the guard asked.

"He's with me," Kirra stated evenly.

"That's fine then, go right in."

Kirra nodded and gripped Kamali savagely by the arm and dragged him through the doors, seeing that he'd been transfixed by the decorative surroundings that differed so much from the white, white and more white of the rest of the building.

"You were named for your mother?"

"And uncle. Marth was named for Dad... Trinity was kind of neutral in the middle named department."

"So what's her middle name?"

"Emily." (AN: If you care to remember, Emily delivered Trinity. P)

"As in doctor Mizuhara Emily?" Kamali asked.

"You sure ask a lot of questions, don't you?" Kirra said, throwing the door open to reveal what appeared to be where her parents ate. Both of them were sitting at the table; her mother was idly chewing on the only remaining crust of a piece of buttered toast and her father had his eyes closed and was sipping what appeared to be green tea.

"Daddy!" Kirra shrieked, and ran over to hug her father around the neck, hard enough to cause strangulation.

"Hi Mum!" Kirra grinned at her mother, flashing her sharp teeth, and Mariah smiled back and flashed an equally fanged grin.

"Daddy, darling, sweetie, angel..." Kirra started.

"What do you want?" Mariah questioned sharply.

Kirra ignored her but continued to work on the psyche of her father.

"Daddy, you know how I'm kind of broke in all... I really, really wanted to go shopping today so could I possibly..."

Ray stopped drinking, nodded and reached into his pocket, retrieving a note and giving it to his daughter. Kirra looked at his and her face fell.

"Only a twenty?"

"That's right," Ray stated firmly. Kirra pouted.

"But what if I run out of money and can't get home?"

"You have legs," Mariah suggested, but Ray sighed and handed Kirra an extra ten.

"Thanks Daddy!" Kirra said, and bent down to give Ray a kiss on the cheek. "I love you!"

"Only when I gave you money," Ray grinned.

"That's right," Kirra smirked sarcastically, "So make sure you give me lots more in the future."

"Then look forward to our wills," Mariah smiled.

Kirra nodded and began to leave the room, grabbing Kamali on the way and dragging him forcefully away.

"Who's that?" Ray asked, and Kirra didn't miss the hint of jealously in his voice. Neither, apparently, did Mariah.

"Afraid to lose your little girl, are we, Raymond?"

"Of course not," Ray snapped, but he didn't sound entirely sure of himself.

"This is Kamali," Kirra interrupted, "And I've promised to help him train so could you please excuse me?" And in a matter of seconds, the pair had disappeared out of the door.

Ray sighed and placed his teacup back on the table. Mariah smiled and held up her little finger.

"She has you like this, Ray. Wrapped around her little finger..."

Marth watched on with bored, tired golden eyes as the newest batch of young hopefuls filed into the training room and surveyed their surroundings with interest. Marth sighed and stood up- time for the friendly introductions.

"Hello, I'm Martheo Kon and welcome to the Crystal Senshi ranks. The next few months will take you to Hell and back, so any wimps please leave."

No one moved. Marth sighed and closed his eyes momentarily, before opening them again and looking from the new recruits on his left to the ones on his right. Only then did he actually spot the two girls- it wasn't unusual that all the newies were men so having two women in the same batch surprised him, but just mildly.

They were obviously standing together for one, and only one reason- that they were the only two women there. The one on the left looked... umm... a little on the moody side to say the very least. Forget that, she looked overly hostile. Her dark hair framed her face and went down to her shoulders. She moved her head downward, obviously aware of his gaze and purple streaks shone in the fluorescent lighting, and blue eyes flashed dangerously under long, dark lashes. Either her pants had half fallen down without her noticing or she was intent on showing off the shining ornament that adorned her navel, and her purple tank top framed her figure but hung somewhat loosely off her thin shoulders. She was rather tall- definitely not as tall as Kirra had grown to be, but quite tall... about his own height, perhaps a little shorter...

"Ahem," she coughed, obviously trying to make a point. Marth's eyes flickered upwards, and she nodded reprovingly.

"Do you stare at the chests of all new recruits?" the second girl remarked with extreme sarcasm. Marth turned his attention from the first girl, to the second who looked a great deal friendlier, aside from the fact that she looked kind of agitated.

This girl also had black hair, but she had visible caramel coloured highlights through it, that complemented her hazel coloured eyes and black pants. Her shirt was low cut and didn't leave much to Marth's hormone-enriched imagination but she wore a black vest over the top that helped conceal a little more than the shirt would on its own. Her pants rested comfortably on her hips and he didn't really have much more to look at on this girl, because she was short compared to him. He had her by almost a foot, by the looks of things.

"Names?" Marth asked, as the second girl opened her mouth to make another sarcastic remark.

"I'm Artemis Sazanami," the second girl responded like clockwork.

"Tasha Reeves," the first one stated, obviously not seeing the point of saying anymore.

"Okay, you'll be the first two to show the extent of your strength. First and foremost- bit beasts?"

Both girls nodded simultaneously.

"Alright. Artemis, you can go first and Tasha can go after that."

Marth turned around and walked calmly out of the room. The male recruits followed him, disgruntled that two girls had beaten them to the punch, and Tasha followed after everyone else with the exception of Artemis had left the room. (AN: Don't worry about the male recruits... they have no point)

Marth pushed his way to the front of the pack of intrigued people and watched the girl through the lightly tinted glass.

"Isn't that dangerous?" questioned one of the men nervously.

"The glass is bullet-proof, if you're worried that it's going to shatter," Marth responded, and the man calmed.

Artemis stood with her eyes closed for a few seconds, before they flashed open and she withdrew a launcher and attached a blue and white beyblade to it.

"GO SHOOT!" she shouted, and launched the blade. She waited for the blade to gain its balance on the rough surface and then frowned in concentration.

"Lugi!" she called and an ultra blue beam of light shot out of the bit chip.

A three-headed, light blue dragon emerged from the beyblade and turned its ice blue eyes to face Marth. Marth blinked and surveyed the Holy Being with slight interest but already knew enough about it. Lugi, the three-headed dragon type, ruled over by the element of fire, the same as Dranzer, but the same as Dragoon in a sense because of its reptilian natures and looks. Supposedly, if the flames that it spurted from its three mouths touched your skin the pain would continue for eternity.

Bright blue flames sizzled out of the dragon's mouths and its blue eyes flashed with anger, finding nothing to actually fight.

Artemis looked out the window and towards Marth, and he nodded slowly in approval. Artemis smiled at him and recalled her bit beast into her beyblade and walked to the door, which slid open automatically.

"Good, good. Tasha, you next," Marth said dismissively. She nodded and brushed a few loose strands of her ebony hair behind her ear. Only then did Marth realize that she had three silver hoops in her ears- two in the left and one in the right, and they shone in the light, much in the way her eyes were shining, with determination and strength.

Once Tasha had entered the training room, and the door had been secured shut, Tasha reached into one of the pockets in her pants and withdrew her beyblade. She then held it in her outstretched palm, and muttered something even Marth couldn't hear. The blade immediately began spinning rapidly in her palm and many peoples eyes widened. Marth simply frowned with an emotion somewhere between curiosity and concern.

"Keturah!" Tasha exclaimed loudly, and a black beam emerged from the beyblade. From there, a huge black dragon rose in all of its triumph, and it really was big- easily bigger than Dragoon. Its smooth black scales shone and its large black wings beat comfortably against its own sides, shining with violet as they hit the light, much like its master's own tresses of hair did. It writhed around a bit, trying to fit its large frame into the room comfortably, and once it had found a comfy spot it stopped and stayed perfectly still.

"Firebolt!" Tasha commanded of her Holy Being, with the utmost confidence and faith, and the dragon's eyes gleamed with pure power, and let loose an almighty blast of fire that engulfed the entire room with a blazing light.

Tasha held up her hand, and the beast retreated back into the blade and spun back into its master's hand. The girl then calmly walked to the door and stepped out of the training room.

The 'bullet-proof' glass had shattered all over the floor, weakened by the attacks from both beasts and finally broken by Keturah's attack. Marth's hair had been blown out of its usual shoulder-length ponytail, so he simply reached into his pocket and retrieved another dark-coloured hair tie and pulled his hair back into a loose tress.

"Good. Very good, both of you, I must say. But it takes more than just a bit beast to make it here. It also takes physical strength, so we'd best get started. Go into the nearest change room, and you'll find lockers with clothes in them. Those are the clothes that you'll be wearing for your training, but once you've passed you can wear what you want. Put your other clothes into the same locker you get your training clothes from, and get back here as soon as humanly possible. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

All of the people nodded and Marth smiled.

"Good. You may now go."

"Is there separate change rooms for the girls and boys?" Artemis inquired.

"No. Why?"

Artemis looked rather scandalized, but Tasha looked like she couldn't give less of a damn.

The small group filed off, and Marth smiled as they left. Strangely enough, this batch actually looked like they were going to turn out interesting...

"Kai, I'm taking Mum and Dad back to their own timeline now."

"So?"

Trinity's eyes darkened. "You know what you have to do."

"I know. And I know I really don't want to do this."

Trinity sighed and slid her fingers between his.

"I know, but you have to. You're the only one who can see your grandfather without umm... use of carnage."

Kai smirked and then sighed. "I guess we'd better get this over with then. Are the kids coming?"

"Yeah... it'll piss Voltaire off if I bring 'em."

"Mummy..." Lita whimpered, covering her newly pierced right earlobe. "It hurts!"

"It will stop soon. Your brother doesn't seem to mind," Trinity pointed out.

Kurai smiled, for a change. After all, it was an improvement from the smirk that could only be described as hereditary.

"It's okay, Lita. It'll stop hurting soon. You've gotta be tough, like me."

"Come on, you two. I'll race you downstairs," Trinity smiled. Lita nodded violently and Kurai just nodded once with a smirk replacing the smile immediately.

"Ready... set... Go!" Trinity exclaimed, and as she said 'go', she closed her eyes and concentrated hard. In a flash of golden light, she was gone.

"Aww... Mummy! You cheated!" Lita snivelled.

"Come on, you two can come downstairs the old-fashioned way with me," Kai reassured the twins and Lita nodded and grabbed Kai's hand.

Meanwhile, Trinity had arrived in the living room, where she wasn't surprised to find the younger versions of her own family sitting there, waiting for her to come to take them home.

"Ready to go? I just have to wait for Kai and the kids," Trinity explained. Speaking of the devil, the three aforementioned people has appeared on the top of the stairs and were currently walking down calmly... with the exception of Lita.

"Mummy! You cheated!" she dashed down the stairs and pouted angrily.

Trinity smiled and shrugged, and gestured for all the people surrounding her to gather in close. Ray gripped Mariah's hand and she smiled, first at him, and then down on her own children.

"Past!" Trinity snapped, and the coll rush once again washed over the small group as they travelled through the waves of time. Mariah sighed- hopefully, everything would be okay when they got back, but only time would tell...

"You can do better than this!" Kirra snapped at Kamali, as he sloppily dodged a punch she'd thrown at him.

"If this is the best you can do, I don't know how you passed your entrance exams!" Kirra snapped, aiming a sweep kick at Kamali's legs. This attack hit home, and he landed with a thud, flat on his behind in front of Kirra. She smirked, and folded her arms across her chest.

"I know you can do better than this. So why don't you show me?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Kirralee," Kamali managed to get out while still trying to catch his breath. Kirra snorted.

"You won't hurt me. Like Hell you could hurt me, Kamali. So stop worrying and show me what you can do."

Kamali nodded and took three deep breaths before standing up again. Kirra began throwing a barrage of punches immediately after he was back on his own two feet and Kamali almost toppled over again. He took one step back, and then two, and then just didn't stop dodging and stepping away from Kirra's attacks. Kirra smirked- the solid steel wall was approaching with every passing moment and every step he took backwards brought him closer to once again being overpowered by her.

Kamali's back hit the cold steel and he breathed out sharply and Kirra smirked as she held up her fist to deliver the finishing blow...

And in an instant, Kamali had grabbed her around both her wrists and spun around so that she was now the one pinned against the wall. Kirra tried to writhe free from his grasp be he simply smirked and looked at her victoriously as she struggled.

"Damn you... you tricked me..." Kirra gasped as she glared up at Kamali, who grinned.

"You should learn not to underestimate your opponents. Because the underdog can still win if he or she uses his brains."

"Bastard!" Kirra spat into Kamali's face out of pure juvenile frustration of being beaten.

"Don't hate me..." Kamali murmured.

"Why not?" Kirra snapped in reply.

The two people stared at each other for a moment, being simply lost in each other's intense gazes, and Kirra could swear she saw Kamali lean slightly closer to her...

But he broke away and stood to the side to let her pass.

"It's been forty-five minutes. You lived up to your promise, so you can go. Thank you, Kirralee."

Kirra nodded, and began walking out the door. However, she paused at the last moment and spun back around on her heel to face Kamali's back.

"Kamali?"

The man turned around and raised his eyebrows in silent question.

"... Call me Kirra, okay?" the pink-haired woman sighed.

Kamali smiled.

"If that's what you want."

Kirra nodded, and left the room quickly, face flushed and palm to her forehead, wondering what the Hell she'd been thinking...

"Lee, are you sure you can handle this?"

"Of course I am, Mariah. What makes you think I can't?"

"The kids can be kind of... hard to control," Ray explained.

"Don't worry about it. If I could keep Mari and Kevin from killing each other when they were younger, I'm sure this will be no problem," Lee reassured his friend, delighted to see the look of anger on his sister's face.

"Well... okay- if you're sure. Tyson and Hilary and the bit beasts will be here anyway. They should be able to help if the kids get out of control," Mariah reasoned.

"Are they really that awful?" questioned Lee.

"Yes," Ray and Mariah answered at exactly the same time.

"Okay..." Lee muttered uncertainly.

"You kids had better behave yourselves," Ray eyed his children, who nodded innocently.

"We'll be very good, Daddy," Kirra simpered.

"Well... we're going now. If we come back and find that you've misbehaved we'll do all sorts of unimaginable parental things to you."

"We'll be good," Trinity said with a slight hint of panic in her voice.

"Okay, bye then!" Mariah said, bending down to give each of her three children a kiss on the cheek. All three of them winced.

Ray and Mariah walked out of the door and the four people waved happily. Once they heard the car drive away however, Trinity, Kirra and Marth turned around and smiled.

"Oh, we're gonna have SO much fun..."

(AN: Alas! Poor Lee. I knew him well...)

"I'm here to see my grandfather, Voltaire Hiwatari," Kai stated confidently into the speaker. However, underneath it all, he felt slightly nervous. He felt Trinity's hand slip into his and she gave it a quick squeeze. Kai smiled and walked into the dingy building followed by his family. Security guards directed the four people through a maze of corridors until they came to an area that had 'Psychiatric Ward' printed on the steel door in large, reflective yellow letters.

"This place isn't very nice," Lita whimpered.

"It's not supposed to be nice, Lita. It's supposed to psyche the prisoners out and make them regret whatever they did," Kurai explained quietly to his older sister. (AN: She's only older by like five minutes, however)

A final guard led them through to a high-security area and ushered them through.

"Are you sure that you don't want a guard in there while you talk?"

"Yes, we're able to look after ourselves," Kai answered. The guard looked doubtful but let them through. They had to walk about fifty metres straight ahead although it seemed a lot longer due to the frightful moans that were coming down the steel hallway. Lita was looking completely and utterly terrified and Kurai had gone deathly pale from fright.

Sitting in a cell, in the only patch of light for metres on end, was Voltaire Hiwatari. However, it wasn't Kai's grandfather as he remembered him- this man was deathly thin and looked completely and utterly frail compared to the strong person he had once been- this person was like a shadow of what Voltaire Hiwatari had once been.

"Kai! What are you doing here?" Voltaire questioned, suddenly looking upwards from moaning and muttering incomprehensible rubbish to himself.

"I'm here to ask you a few things," Kai stated simply.

"What is it that you..." Voltaire stopped suddenly as he noticed Trinity standing behind Kai, partly hidden by the shadows.

"And what is that freak doing here?"

"That freak and I have two children," Kai snarled.

"Oh dear God... just had to completely ruin my life before I die."

"Would you expect anything less from me?" Kai questioned in an innocent voice filled to the brim with sarcasm.

"What the Hell do you want?" Voltaire snapped.

"I want to know if you have anything to do with those cyborg humans that have been wandering around and trying to kill my friends," Kai stated evenly.

"Can I just ask you one question?" Voltaire asked.

"What?"

"How the HELL do you think I can make cyborg humans in a bloody reinforced jail cell!"

"You have plenty of inside people that would be willing to come in and cater to your every whim..."

"And how would that work? You're the only one allowed in to see me."

Kai surveyed the old man who looked back on him with a horrid ferocity that he hadn't seen since his childhood in the abbey.

"... Fine. I believe you. But if you're bullshitting me I swear I'll come back here and kill you with my bare hands."

"Do me a favour and do it now..." Voltaire muttered.

"No. I don't listen to you any more."

"Suit yourself."

Kai turned on his heel and began walking back towards the main part of the jail. Trinity grabbed both of the children's hands and followed.

If it wasn't Voltaire sending the artificial humans after her mother and father, who was it?

After Ray and Mariah had arrived at the hotel where they were having their honeymoon, suitcases and bags were immediately dropped in the hallway and Ray drew Mariah into a passionate kiss that Mariah eagerly accepted. Once the pair had broken away from one another, Ray slipped his arms around his wife and kissed the top of her head softly.

"Two weeks... two weeks of child-free bliss..." he murmured.

Mariah laughed softly and nuzzled Ray's chest in a feline-esque way.

"I hope Lee is alright with them."

"He will be," Ray stated firmly. "Although I think we should have left him a tranquilliser dark gun..."

"Probably, but it's too late now..." Mariah trailed off as she heard thunder rumble in the distance.

"Ray... I want to take a shower before the storm hits."

"Fine with me," Ray grinned cheekily. "I'll go order some champagne for us, okay?"

"Mariah nodded and gave Ray a quick kiss as he walked to the door, went through and swiftly locked it behind him. Mariah sighed and removed the woollen top that Trinity had given her to wear in place of her ruined wedding dress- it was made of painfully itchy fibres that irritated her skin.

This was the way she liked it- no worries, no kids, no strange beings trying to kill her- just her and Ray together.

'Here's hoping this lasts,' Mariah thought as she turned on the water and let it run over her tired, itchy skin.

'But I know it's not going to... it never does...'

"Not bad," Marth smirked as Tasha snarled as she missed hitting him again. "But you'll have to do better than that."

Tasha glared and threw another punch, which Marth once again dodged with a practiced ease.

"What you need to do is learn to be patient. If you just throw out punches like that your opponent will be able to predict your movements and you'll just run yourself down..."

Marth yelped as he felt a sharp pain hit his left eye. While he'd been explaining the flaws in her physical fighting skills she'd slugged him one.

"Another thing you need to learn is honourable fighting skills," Marth snarled quietly.

"I've been fighting for a long time... I don't need an instructor."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Well don't."

Marth shrugged. "Suit yourself. Training is over for today!"

Most of the people collapsed onto their hands and knees and panted openly, trying to regain their strength and breath. Marth and Tasha remained standing and Artemis simply sat down and scanned the rest of the people in the room with her eyes.

"Good, very good for the first day. But tomorrow, I expect you all to put in two times more effort," Marth stated, not angrily, but with a seriousness in his voice that made everyone respect his request. "You can go to your rooms."

Everyone filed out, but Marth stayed behind and sat down, concentrating on his eldest sister.

'Trin, they're good, and the two girls have bit beasts. Perhaps we will stand a chance.'

'Marth, there are easily three hundred, perhaps four hundred Senshi spread around China and indeed the world. But three hundred against limitless numbers is suicide!' Kirra's voice echoed through his mind.

'Then again, there are those of us that are... unique in the way of our battle styles,' Marth said pointedly, not ready to lose his natural optimism yet.

'Marth, we don't have limitless energy. We're still human and even if we were fully bit beast they still run out of energy.'

Marth blinked once, very slowly.

'What's the point of trying if you've already given up?'

Kirra said nothing, and Trinity sighed.

'I don't like the idea of sending my family and friends out on a kamikaze mission, Marth. The deaths of so many innocent lives shouldn't rest on anyone's shoulders, and I've already killed enough people to be sentenced to eternal damnation once I'm dead.'

'We'll be fine,' Marth thought pointedly, although he wasn't entirely sure if he was right. 'We've been through worse.'

'If I send the Senshi out... I send Kurai and Lita,' Trinity whispered.

Kirra said nothing, so Trinity spoke again.

'I'm beginning to know how...'

'Mum and Dad felt,' Kirra completed the sentence for her older sister.

'They watched us go out so many times... we could have easily been killed...'

'Mum always used to say we shouldn't be living this way...'

Suddenly, a horrible screeching sound echoed in the three siblings' minds and they winced.

'What was that?' Marth questioned.

'They're here.'

'About three hours away as far as I can tell,' Kirra pointed out.

'That gives us little time to prepare,' Marth exclaimed subconsciously.

'Marth, the new recruits you trained today- are they physically strong, to go with their bit beasts?'

'Yes, they're quite strong. Not the best, but certainly not worst,' Marth said with utmost confidence in the two girls.

'Excellent. Send them up to me,' Trinity ordered.

'Of course- Good luck, Trin.'

'We'll all be needing it,' she replied gravely, and Marth felt her presence in his mind fade, along with Kirra's.

Marth stood up, ready to get Tasha and Artemis, however, he paused for a second. His brow furrowed in thought.

'Cisia?'

'Yes master?' the deep, rumbling purr of his bit beast, guardian and best friend echoed through his mind.

'You have always fought along side me before. Now, even though you are free and can follow your own will, I ask you to fight beside me once again.'

Marth could feel the compassionate reaction from his bit beast and the big cat laughed softly.

'Of course, young cub,' the holy being said, pausing for a moment before continuing, 'My next-of-kin will also help you.'

'What about Dranzer?'

'I listen to no-one but my master,' Dranzer replied immediately.

'Your master would want you to listen to me,' Marth replied evenly.

'We shall see...' the phoenix replied, and disappeared for a few seconds, obviously asking Kai's consent.

After a few more moments, Dranzer returned, and was feeling rather insulted as far as Marth could tell.

'My master sends his consent for me to fight by the three felines.'

'Excellent. Get ready to fight.'

'We are always prepared for battle,' Dranzer replied, before leaving once again.

Marth snapped out of his trance of concentration, and immediately noticed that Tasha was standing in the doorway, staring at him.

She said nothing, but simply surveyed him through her intense blue gaze and Marth was positive that he saw a small grin tug at the corners of her mouth.

"My sister wants to see you," Marth stated simply.

"The top-ranking warrior, right?" Tasha replied with a question.

"And you know that how?" Marth asked.

"You're the Kon family... rumours are always flying around about you."

"My sister wants to see you," Marth repeated.

"Fine with me," Tasha said, finally turning her back on him and walking out of the room.

Marth was feeling sick with worry, but the golden tiger instincts that were embedded into his mind couldn't help but be excited... the thrill of the battle, just before it went in for the kill...

He shook his head violently, ashamed for letting the bit beast take over his mind... but he and his sisters needed the rush of power, the ecstasy they got out of the fight...

"Damn it... I don't need to fight anymore," Marth snarled. "But what other choice do we have?"

Mariah stood under the warm water, and let the temperate stream soothe her tired muscles.

Suddenly, from behind, a hand was placed on her shoulder and she stiffened, now naturally on her guard at practically all times. She gasped in surprise as the unknown person spun her around but relaxed as the person pulled her close and kissed her roughly and slid one of his arms downwards until it was resting securely around her waist.

Mariah knew she didn't need to worry- she knew who it was.

Ray pulled back and rested his forehead tenderly against the top of Mariah's head and softly stroked her hair as he pulled her closer to him.

Ray pouted as he and Mariah locked eyes and he kissed her softly once again.

"I missed you..." he whispered in her ear, and after he'd finished speaking he gave the lobe a soft, playful nip.

Mariah laughed softly and ran her fingers down Ray's chest.

"I can tell."

The two lovers' lips met again and Ray's hands traced slow circles up and down Mariah's spine and she moaned in delight as Ray broke the kiss and drew his tongue across the outline of her collarbone.

"Ray..." Mariah started, but was cut off as Ray's lips caressed her own once again. Once the pair had broken away from one another, their eyes locked and Ray smiled down upon his wife, love and best friend.

"Yes, Mari?"

"I think we need to take this somewhere else... like the bedroom..."

"Not a bad idea," Ray grinned and grabbed Mariah's spare hand as she turned off the taps in the shower. "Not bad at all..."

"Okay, squadron C can go out first... they're the best of the lower strength groups, and they can be followed by groups D and F..." Kai murmured, poring over the various papers that showed ever soldier's strength, bit beast and class, as well as personal information and distinguishing features that could used for identification, just in case they happened to get the rough end of the stick.

Trinity sat about ten metres away from Kai, staring into the dark clouds that signalled an impending storm, in more ways than one. She sighed and looked as tired as ever as the first lot of lighting crashed somewhere a few kilometres away.

"Trin, are you okay?" Kai questioned, looking upwards to see the woman simply staring out into space, utterly lost in her own thoughts.

"So much death... so much violence... what's the point of it all?"

Kai sighed and spoke evenly in reply.

"We are simply doing what we think is right."

"I don't think me being responsible for the death of the majority of our soldiers is right! They have families and friends who care about them and I take full liability for whatever happens to them as their leader."

"There's nothing you can do, Trinity," Kai said softly. "They joined these ranks knowing the risks of what they could and almost definitely would go through. They have charge of their own lives and if the path ends here for them, it is purely to their consent."

"Kirra, you've been given the job of being leader of squadron A. Here's the roll- check to make sure they're all here and not hiding under their beds," Marth said, tossing her the clipboard that she caught with practiced ease.

"Mahalia Zeona... Takeshi Tsugimoto... they haven't even passed their Elite examination!" Kirra hissed.

Marth looked back towards his sister and shrugged, pointing downwards, indicating that she should keep reading. Knowing that there was only four to a single squadron, her eyes caught the last name on the list.

Kamali Xao.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

Marth scanned the list of his own squadron, number B, and realized that the majority of his team hadn't passed their Elite examinations either. More to the point, they haven't even passed their entrance ones.

Tasha Reeves.

Artemis Sazanami.

Jason Berne.

Jason was another Elite, thank God, otherwise he would have been stuck with a full team of amateurs. But then again, he supposed it wasn't fair to call them amateurs- after all, he himself had seen the extent of their prowess just a mere few hours before.

Suddenly, one of the more important things occurred to him.

"Shit!" he snapped, and dashed back toward where he had last seen his sister. He pushed frantically through the crowds and finally saw a flash of bright pink.

"Kiz!" he called out, and Kirra stopped and spun around to face her brother.

"Where did Kurai and Lita end up?"

"Oh damn it!" Kirra hissed. "We need to get them into our squadrons... Trin would kill us if anything happened to them."

"They can just tag along with us... but I'm not sticking them with two other people they don't know," Marth stated firmly.

Kirra nodded. "I'll go and find out who they ended up with, and see if I can strike a little bargain..."

The pink-haired woman dashed off through the crowd once again, and Marth sighed, hoping that his sister would find his niece and nephew before it got too late.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Ray delivered another passionate kiss that left Mariah reeling from the exquisite fervour that they shared together- a passion that only they could share and understand, and burned with undying existence within them, and drew them to each other. The two lovers' eyes locked and Ray smiled softly, tracing his fingers slowly down Mariah's face, which was currently flushed pink, and long, elegant neck.

"Mm... Mari..." Ray purred softly into her ear, and kissed her neck, her shoulder; finally making contact with her lips once again the two savoured the moment and traversed each others' bodies, finding comfort in the familiar figures, the familiar reactions...

They once again broke away from each other, albeit highly unwillingly, and Ray buried his face into Mariah's pink halo of hair, taking in her scent- sweet, and a little salty due to the physical strain their passion was taking on her.

"Ray...?" she whispered, concerned by his sudden halt. Ray simply smiled and relaxed, setting his head down to rest on her shoulder, and letting his chest press against hers.

"I adore you, Mari..." he whispered huskily in her ear, and she smiled as she felt his arms encircle her body and draw her closer to him, if that was at all possible.

"I love you too, Ray."

"Aa..." Marth whispered, yanking one particularly appealing looking blade out of its sheath and admiring it in the light. If there were anything at all to look forward to in times of bloodshed for him, it would have to be picking the weapons with which you shed the blood.

He flicked the katana around a bit, getting the feel of its weight and length, apparently pleased with the results. He stuck it back in the sheath and pulled it out of the rack, sticking it under his arm so he wouldn't forget it.

"Little brother, you look like a kid in a candy store."

"Did you manage to find Kurai and Lita?" Marth questioned, ignoring his sister's smart comment.

"I did a little bit of wheeling and dealing... and I managed to switch Jason for Lita for you and Takeshi for Kurai in my squadron."

"Good. Trin will now have a small peace of mind, knowing the twins are with us."

Kirra nodded, and gave a sharp tug on the hilt of a smaller blade than the one Marth had chosen. It was lightweight and easier to wield than Marth's, but didn't have the extra length. This would suit very well indeed.

Trinity glared out the window at the horizon- she could see it... the darkness was fast approaching... and there was nothing that she could do. For one of the first times in her life, she felt completely helpless to control the odds, unable to really offer any assistance to her friends and family at all, besides her parents, she felt completely isolated from what she was used to... standing alongside her brother and sister, confident and calm, knowing that they too felt the urge to fight... to prove their dominance over the enemy... after all, wasn't that what all bit beasts wanted?

"Trin?" Kai spoke up in question. Trinity laughed softly and bitterly, and turned away from the window for the first time in ages and glanced at him.

"You have no idea how hard it is to be a spectator, watching from the sidelines for the first time. I am here to protect my parents but I feel useless... perhaps it's just guilt..."

Kirra gulped as she found her three fellow team members; Kurai, Mahalia, and last and probably least, Kamali.

She saw Marth standing with Lita, and two other girls who were obviously Tasha Reeves and Artemis Sazanami respectively.

"... We'll leave with you," Marth said quietly, and the eight people slowly walked out to the front of the building, not surprised to see many black transport vans, which Marth knew from experience only carried 10 people max. Two squadrons plus the driver; they fitted in very well indeed.

They got into the van in silence, and Lita sat, pale-faced, next to her uncle who seemed intent on frowning at the floor, or anyone who made any sound whatsoever.

Kirra stared out the small, reinforced windows set into the van's back doors and watched as her home grew smaller... smaller... smaller, until it was just a tiny dot in the distance and about five seconds later it had completely disappeared from view.

'I hope you know what you're doing, Trin...' she thought, looking around at the seven other frightened faces.

"Uncle Marth?" Lita whispered. Marth nodded to signal that he'd heard her but made no other reaction.

"I'm scared... I don't want to get hurt... it probably sounds selfish but I don't want to get hurt."

"That's natural," Marth replied, "Any normal person would be terrified at this point, if they were sane."

"Why aren't you?"

"I'm just used to it."

Silence filled the small space as Lita and Marth stopped talking, but Lita persisted.

"I'm still scared."

Marth smiled reassuringly at the child, who tried to smile back but failed due to nerves.

"You are under my care, Lita. Come Hell or high water, I will not let you be hurt, even if it means that I have to get hurt in place of you. That goes the same for all members of my team."

Artemis smiled and Tasha leaned over to look at Marth but said nothing. She hated to admit it, but he respected the boy.

Ray slowly rubbed Mariah's back as she regained her breath, whilst lying to one side of him, exhausted from the various happenings that she'd fallen victim to in the past few days- some being bad and others, like the love they had just made together, was good and most likely beneficial in various ways...

"I don't want anything to happen to us Ray," she whispered, locking eyes with him to show she was serious. "I don't want to live through anything else like we did ten years ago."

"I won't let anything happen to you," Ray replied softly, "If it's within my power I'll do everything I can to make sure nothing else happens to affect us like that ever again."

Mariah nodded tiredly, and leaned forward to give Ray a quick kiss. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ray grinned, pulling her over to him and resting her head on his chest. "Now you sleep."

Mariah nodded slowly and shut her eyes, and was soon engulfed in a deep slumber.

Ray watched her sleep for a while, until he too succumbed to his exhaustion and fell into a dreamless siesta.

Trinity's eyes glazed over as she watched the multiple black vans streak away and out of view, knowing that one or more of those vans contained her brother, sister and two children. She could see it... she was simply sending them all to their doom.

Kai finally finished designing battle strategies that were to be sent to the main barracks at the war zone, and walked over and stood behind Trinity, placing a hand on her shoulder and also beginning to stare out into oblivion. Trinity sighed and reached up to place her hand on top of Kai's, but did not let her eyesight wander from the outside world.

"And so it begins..."

Yay! Finally done. I'll put the rating up to R... just to be safe.


	7. The first round

Don't own Tasha and Artemis! They belong to Midnight Insanity and Unbreakable Jade!

"They're getting closer..." Marth whispered to Kirra, who nodded slowly, but didn't allow her eyes to leave the floor. Marth looked to his left, at his sister, who seemed to be in some sort of trance, and then let his eyes wander to the other six people sitting in the dank van with them. The only splash of colour was in the red stripes that marked the collar and hem of their black Senshi battle clothing. Tasha was leaning back against the wall of the van, eyes closed, hair brushed out of her face. She was either completely relaxed, or she was completely insane. Scratch that, if she wasn't nervous she was insane anyway.

Artemis was sitting forward, looking as though if she opened her mouth she'd be sick. Lita was much the same way; with her face deathly pale and her golden eyes dim with worry. Kurai didn't look as nervous as his sister, but he sat, his gaze fixed on something that they couldn't see. Mahalia sat in an apparently relaxed pose, however her eyes darted around violently, as though expecting an attack any moment. Kamali sat next to Kirra, occasionally letting himself catch a swift glance of the pink-haired woman, before his eyes once again became glassy- completely focused on the task ahead, knowing what was most likely going to come to his friends, and those he cared about. His gaze flickered to Kirra again and he grimaced.

The truck suddenly halted and Kirra's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as she came her senses and the realization of what was coming hit her. The back door of the truck swung open and the people inside were momentarily blinded by the sudden blast of dim sunlight that hit their faces.

There, standing directly in front of the exit of the truck, was Kirra's least favourite person in the entire world, Trent Loch. Loch was a tall, superior looking man of his late twenties to early thirties in age. He had light sandy coloured hair that was buzz-cut so as not to be an irritation and harsh, black eyes that looked rather gorilla-like to Kirra. Frankly, all he looked like from a distance was a big dumb ape that had escaped the local zoo- all he needed was the banana and the index finger up his nostril.

"Come on, hurry up and get out. This truck has to go back to get the last few Senshi at top speed," Loch said in a loud voice so the driver understood he might as well hurry up if he valued his life.

"Is my sister dead?" Kirra questioned.

"You would know better than I would," Loch replied.

"Assuming that's a no- I was just wondering, seeing only over her dead body, would you be ordering us around."

"This army needs someone with a strong will and a level head to lead them, and neither you nor your brother have both of these qualities."

"And you do?" Marth questioned.

"Better than you two know," Loch snarled. "Now do as I say." With that, he began walking forward, planning to position then for battle.

Kirra winced but followed him, and, judging by the expression on her face, was thinking of unimaginable plots of revenge to practice. Her squadron followed her, and Marth followed them.

"About time I met someone around here with a level head..." Tasha muttered. Artemis looked disgusted by the man's aggro nature and by her female companion's apparent appreciation of it.

"Where are the Holy Beings?" Loch barked at Kirra who winced as she felt his spit hit her cheek.

"They're coming. They should be here any moment now, in fact."

"Excellent. We'll be using them as fixed artillery with their long-ranged attacks."

"You're insane," Kirra stated plainly. "The bit beasts are at their best when they're dedicated to physical combat."

"When you can shoot projectiles, you can stay behind and let the bit beasts fight," Loch spat, but this time, his face broke into a grin. "But I wouldn't put it past you... and I really shouldn't. Come on, little golden kitten... show me."

Kirra simply kept her eyes locked with his, refusing to move a muscle, even to blink, determined not to let his ridiculous coaxing draw out her feline blood.

Kamali frowned. Sure, he'd heard a lot of rumours about the Kon family, the people he worked for, but he'd always assumed they were just ridiculous stories that had been heard through one too many grapevines and simply chose to ignore them. But there was one story; just one... about Rei and Mao being chosen by the Holy Beings of China to father and mother one of their fallen comrades- it was a real myth. But myths are generally fiction... it wasn't true... was it?

Loch finally backed away from Kirra and smirked.

"They will be used the way I want them to."

"Hope you're the first to die then," Kirra hissed. "But you won't be... I can smell the fear in your heart... you want the nice army to protect you while you're shitting yourself back in your tent."

"Not true."

No one said anything for a little while after that, but Loch spun around suddenly as the whole group heard a truck approaching in the distance.

"That will be the second batch... kindly excuse me while I go and brief them."

"You're excused... anything to get you away from me," Kirra hissed after him.

Kamali sighed.

"Kirra, perhaps if you didn't get so worked up over small matters..."

"Small matters? SMALL MATTERS! My family has been in control of this company from the beginning and..."

"... And as soon as your sister finds out about this guy, she'll shut him down. You shouldn't worry so much," Kamali whispered, touching Kirra lightly on the shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. Kirra flinched and jerked away immediately, but spun around and gave the man a grave sort of smile.

The Hiwatari twins were standing next to each other fixated on a small black dot in the distance, looking utterly terrified. Kirra noticed this and stared and the black dot too, which was gradually growing bigger. At that point, Kirra registered what it was and sprang into the air to meet it.

A black humanoid, much like the one her sister had described to her from the past, was flying to wards her at top speed, and was now screeching at the top of its high-pitched voice.

"Shit!" Kirra snarled, beginning to fly towards the creature. It noticed her, and it grinned to expose its metallic fangs. It swiped at Kirra, who dodged behind its back, and stuck her fist through the nape of its neck. It hissed, and black, oily blood spilled from the wound and onto Kirra's arm, before it disappeared completely.

"A scout!" she shouted. "They know where we are..."

'In that case, I hope the others get here quickly then,' Kirra heard Marth's voice echo through her head.

'So do I... otherwise we might as well say goodbye...'

"What do people do on honeymoons?" little Kirra quizzed her uncle-cum-babysitter whilst sitting on his lap and staring straight into his eyes, so that they were practically nose-to-nose.

"I assume they spend time with each other and talk about how much they love each other," Lee hastily explained whilst sweatdropping and knowing exactly what his sister and best friend were doing on their honeymoon.

"Haven't you ever been on a honeymoon, Uncle Lee?"

"No, I've never married someone."

"Is it because no one likes you?" Kirra questioned understandably. (AN: I do Lee! snugs him)

Lee sweatdropped at his niece's question but decided to put up with it a little bit longer.

"No, just haven't found the right person yet, I suppose."

"You mean you have to love the person a lot to make that sort of commitment?" Kirra questioned.

"Big words for an eight-year-old," Lee commented.

"That's what Daddy told me."

"Yes, well, your Mum and Dad do love each other a lot, thus proven by the fact that they spent the majority of their twenties' literally joined at the hips and granting me nieces and a nephew," Lee's voice got darker as he continued to talk.

"Oh." Kirra looked kind of confused but didn't appear to find. "They told me babies came from the stalk, not from your hips."

Lee didn't reply, instead, he seemed to be glaring darkly into the distance at something that was apparently invisible to everyone else and think horrible, vexing, brotherly thoughts.

Meanwhile, Trinity and Marth had managed to dig up a rather ancient looking bag of peanuts and were currently taking great delight in throwing them at Tyson and laughing when he caught them in his mouth.

"Aa, he's so good with the children..." Hiromi sighed wistfully. Lee gave her a strange look, and turned away, highly unwilling to get caught up in the brunette woman's daydreams.

"Uncle Lee, will you stay here after Mum and Dad come back?" Kirra questioned.

"I might for a while, but I really don't stay in any place very..." Lee was cut off by a violent choking sound, made by Tyson, who was currently gagging on one of the thrown peanuts. Hiromi walked over and gave him a swift whack between the shoulder blades and the half-digested piece of food flew across the room and left a rather obvious mark on the white wall.

Lee sighed and went to get something to wipe the disgusting THING off the wall with.

'It's like I'm babysitting five, not three. And the two that are supposed to be helping me are more trouble than the kids!'

The other Senshi were now starting to arrive in swarms which was comforting Kirra somewhat, but she couldn't help but look at some of the ones she knew slightly better than the others and thinking, 'I might never see them again...'

The bit beasts were currently lined up in front of the human soldiers and were looking rather grim, regardless of the fact that most of their faces were set into permanent scowls anyway. Dranzer had assumed his beast form and was preening himself- he obviously thought that if he wasn't going to make it, he might as well look intimidating and impressive. A few embers flew from under the great Phoenix's wings and landed on Mysticala's ear, which she quickly twitched to rid herself of the itching of the weak burn.

Next to Mysticala was it's male next-of-kin, Mysticisia, who was flicking his spotted tail in a rather impatient sort of way. Keturah growled very slightly as the spotted tail of the third mystic hit the very edge of one of her luminous scales but the smaller feline bit beast made no attempt to retaliate, but didn't seem scared to do so, even though the black dragon was at least three times his size.

Lugi was a little farther away from the three other bit beasts, next to what looked like a giant elephant beast that was struggling to return to its bit chip. A rather short looking girl of about 15 years walked over and shouted something to the holy being, which immediately quietened down.

Kirra was standing with Kamali and Kurai to each side of her, and Mahalia stood next to Kamali, grasping her blade of choice. The older woman's dark eyes were dimmed with worry and she flicked her silvery hair back over her shoulder determinedly.

Lita was next to her brother, grasping her small scimitar with pure white knuckles and whimpering very softly. Kurai was muttering something under his breath, and from what you could hear, it appeared he was revising battle tactics. Artemis had no battle tactics to revise and was looking rather frightened, but still wore a face that exuded undying determination. Tasha frowned into the distance with utter focus, grasping the hilt of the small blade she'd chosen for herself as a precaution. Marth yanked his dark red, fingerless gloves up as high as they could possibly go on his hands and clenched his fists.

The darkening horizon was looking evermore impending as a mass of black figures appeared, outlined by the sunlight- they were about a kilometre away, Kirra estimated, and they were moving at an exponential pace.

"Make sure you don't show them any mercy, like you showed me earlier today, Kamali," Kirra whispered, "Because you won't receive any in return."

The man nodded and Kirra let her gaze wander to him for a moment- he wore an expression of the utmost dedication and ferocity that she herself was impressed.

"Bit beasts! Take aim! This is only the first assault, it won't be too damaging to our ranks," Loch's voice echoed.

'There about five hundred of them... we're almost evenly matched, and they won't send any more tonight... and they're some of the weakest...' Marth thought, frowning very slightly in concentration.

"All right! 'Cala!"

"'Cisia!"

The two felines took aim, and so did Dranzer, knowing that he was supposed to follow the orders of the two neko-jin.

"Mystic Melody!" Marth and Kirra shouted in unison. The two felines took aim before letting loose the echoing and loud but rather beautiful melody at the enemy. About twenty of the front ranks dissipated, but this only encouraged the remaining ones further.

Dranzer spread its blazing wings and let out a loud and defiant call, and three orbs of fire shot from each wing. Each one of these hit, and apparently caused 'splash-damage' that spread out and killed any other that was stupid enough to be close to the attack.

"Firebolt!" Tasha commanded of her holy being, and a bright flash of fire that managed to destroy about fifteen of the creatures. The other bit beasts were now also letting loose with their attacks and killing about five of the creatures at a time, but the ones that had managed to avoid the attacks were speeding towards the human portion of the Senshi army...

A sickening crack was heard as one such one's face met with Kirra's fist, and fell over, howling in agony, before falling limp. Kirra withdrew her katana and spun it around in a sort of battle pose, all in one swift gesture, and yelled, "Now!"

Her squadron sprang forward, closely followed my Marth's and the rest of groups. One of the robots hissed at Kirra but she drove her blade through its open mouth and it simply exploded into a shower of sparks. She then sprung forward and nailed three in a row, whilst counting up for four.

Marth eyed four of the cyborgs, which were apparently trying to entrap him, and swiftly swept his sword around and decapitated the lot of them. His eyes caught Kirra's and they both held up four fingers.

"Not bad, little brother," Kirra shouted, before simply sticking her fist outward and letting one of the robots crash into her fist, and then held up five fingers.

"But you'll need to do better."

Marth scowled focused on one of the things that was currently circling Mysticisia and gave it a kick to the stomach, and it fell over and didn't get back up.

Meanwhile, Tasha found herself engulfed by the creatures. She winced and sliced at one with her katana, and it vanished, but the others kept coming. Eventually they had encircled her, and she did what any normal person would have done in that situation, and screamed.

Marth spun around and the sound of the dark-haired girl's voice, and dashed over, readying his katana...

But Loch beat him, and swung inexpertly at the creatures, which, lucky for him, seemed to be the weakest of the lot. After all, how else could have that retard killed them?

"You have to watch it out here. You don't know when they're going to gang up on you like that," he said professionally to Tasha, who took the hand he had outstretched and was pulled back onto her feet. Marth grimaced but spun back into where the thick of the attack was being focused.

Meanwhile, Kamali had managed to very professionally lose his weapon and was currently attacking the creatures physically, and looking exhausted from the extra effort this was taking. Kirra wiped a splatter of oil off her face and watched as Kamali flailed about in a rather weak attempt at an attack.

"Here, take it!" she called out, tossing her own katana to Kamali, who caught it by the hilt and stared at her, apparently surprised at her actions. Kirra smiled so Kamali smiled back and then refocused on what they were aiming to do. Kirra then took the time to grin somewhat insanely and dash forward to meet the nearest of the attackers head-on.

Dranzer twisted around violently in the air, trying to rid himself of one of the mechanical humanlike things that had managed to grab onto his long, graceful tail feathers. Kirra snorted at the site of Dranzer screeching loudly at the creature, which was smiling as it tore at the handful of smouldering plumage it had managed to grasp. Kirra dashed over and locked eyes with Dranzer, who gave her an angry golden glare. Kirra simply swung her fist at the attacker and it went down.

"Does the big parrot need a feline's help to have his own hide?"

Dranzer simply flapped its broad wings and took off to find anyone else who would dare to oppose him. Kirra grinned and dashed into the middle of the fray, desperate to show them that this was her; she was who she was, and she certainly wasn't 'only human'.

"They're beating us back!" Xan hissed, opening his eyes for the first time in the past hour.

"It's only our first assault, we'll be able to rebuild the ranks and come back at them, first light tomorrow. Those that are left alive will need replenished energy. And the five we're after for the different reasons are still out there somewhere..."

"Excellent, Master," Xan commented, "I will recall the remaining live ones of our side and bring them back to their barracks."

"Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three..." Kirra counted cheerfully as she did various violent things to the few remaining of the first attackers. Suddenly, all of them froze in place, and many of the Senshi that were fighting them halted in surprise.

"What..." Marth muttered as the forty-seventh combatant he'd faced suddenly spun around and retreated at top speed, as did its comrades.

"We've beaten them!" Loch shouted, and a collective cheer rose from the already exhausted warriors. Kamali smiled and looked around for Kirra, but when he saw her his smile faded. She stared after the retreating battalion with a ferocious frown fixed on her face, and her golden eyes had darkened from concern.

"Kirra! What's wrong?" Kamali asked, dashing past many relieved looking people to reach the pink haired woman, who made no reaction to his sudden arrival.

"They don't usually do that..." she murmured.

"You've seen them before?" Kamali asked.

Kirra nodded once, so slowly it was almost robotic, and then spun around on her heel to look directly into the face of her little brother who was sending her a confused look.

"I've never seen them retreat before, Kiz."

"It must be their ulterior motive."

"What ulterior motive?" Kamali asked, obviously thoroughly confused.

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" Kirra asked, obviously a little annoyed.

"Sorry..." Kamali said meekly.

"Rations!" Loch shouted, and Kirra winced at the sound of his voice. "Rations will be served in the large tent in the middle of the camp in fifteen minutes." He then turned to a younger person who stood up so straight he grew about three inches in height.

"Go to the medics tent and get them all down here. Tell them to identify the dead but leave them out there- we can't afford to be digging around corpses."

The kid nodded and rushed off at full pace. Kirra muttered something under her breath about Loch's cradle being rocked too close to the wall, and began walking across the sodden, muddy ground and up the hill towards their camp. Marth stretched and yawned before following her, and Kamali ran to catch up.

"What about the others?" Marth questioned.

"We'll meet up with them back at base."

Someone had conveniently placed a number of television screens that showed the official injured and the official dead of the Senshi ranks in the food tent, and Marth and Kirra took a place at a table very close to one of these screens.

"Nothing like eating your cold bowl of snot while reading the names of corpses..." Kirra muttered, trying to dig a forkful of the white mushy food onto her fork, and wrinkling her nose violently as it simply seeped through the tongs.

About five new names flashed up on the 'deceased' portion of the screen and a woman sitting about three tables away from them screamed hysterically and fainted, falling backwards onto the muddy floor whilst a few people made a grab for her, to help her up.

"Looks like her husband's gone," Marth muttered sympathetically, as he read down the list of names to find those associated with the woman who had passed out.

"Shame... such a shame..." Kirra muttered in reply. Her eyes flickered up to the screen again and she dropped her fork with a resounding clang, and her mouth dropped open to form a perfect circle.

"Kiz, what's..." Marth looked up at the screen, and saw what he'd been dreading.

Injured- K. Hiwatari, L. Hiwatari...

"Oh shit!" Kirra snarled. "I'm going over to see."

Marth nodded and stood up. The last thing the two siblings heard was Loch yelling something about telling him if anyone went missing, but they both ignored it, mainly because of the horrible feeling of foreboding that had overcome them both. There was one thing about the injured column that was a little unsettling- apparently 'injured' had been classified by their parents to mean something as simple as a broken ankle or being knocked out, to having no limbs and missing all your vital organs, whilst linked up to life support.

When they reached the pure white tent (which rather reminded Kirra of her own home), they stepped through the entrance of the tent and were immediately greeted by one of the doctors, who actually looked rather suspicious of them.

"Who are you looking for?" the doctor questioned feverishly.

"Lita and Kurai Hiwatari," Marth replied.

"Then you'll be relieved to know that they aren't too bad, compared to some of the other poor souls that ended up here. They should be dead, some of 'em- it'd be more humane than living in the state they're in right now."

Kirra felt her stomach begin to un-knot and Marth gave a very slight sigh of relief. The doctor retreated into the tent and gestured for the two youngest children of Rei and Mao to follow him. Kirra ducked into the tent and Marth managed to get in with more of an incline of the head. They wandered past the mainly empty beds and tried to ignore most of the occupants, who looked rather worse for wear, with the majority of them moaning or screaming from pain.

After what seemed like forever to Kirra and Marth, they finally reached the beds of their niece and nephew.

"The boy copped a blow to the head- not serious enough to cause any damage to the brain, just enough to knock him out and give him a scar to remember it by. But the girl, however..." the doctor tried to refrain from smiling as he perused Lita's medical charts, "She appears to be suffering from severe shock."

Kirra felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. "Thank you."

"No problem. The two of them will be able to return to their squadrons by about nine tonight."

"We're the leaders of their squadrons," Marth stated.

"I can see the resemblance between you four," the doctor stated back in a tone equally bored-sounding.

"Okay, we're their aunt and uncle too..."

"Everyone knows who you two are. And it's not just the fact that you're the mentors of the two Hiwatari kids or the second and third children of Kon Rei and Mao."

The silence that spread through the room after that was rather uncomfortable, so Kirra eventually decided to break it with a, "See you tonight at nine, then," and dashing off, with her brother close on her tail. The doctor's eyes followed the two people as they left and he grinned.

"No. You're famous for what you CAN be..."

Later that night, Marth sat up anxiously waiting for his young niece to be brought back to his tent. The doctor had said nine at night and it was already quarter to eleven, for God's sake! He eyed the rest of his teammates, who were asleep (AN: Or so he thinks) and launched himself up from his seated position on his rather creaky camp bed.

He grabbed his boxer shorts and white t-shirt from his rather kafuffled looking knapsack and began swiftly stripping out of his mud stained Senshi battle robes and yanking on his night-time clothes at full speed.

Tasha's blue eyes glinted in the moonlight as she watched her commander; when she'd first arrived at the Senshi barracks (merely a few hours ago) he'd seemed so arrogant but now she saw him so vulnerable he seemed rather endearing and handsome, as well as possessing the natural feline grace that could probably be traced far back into his bloodline.

He was rather well-muscled- not 'muscle-bound thug' well-muscled like Loch, but rather it was just enough to not make him look weak, and he had a nice tan that complemented his eyes.

At this point, Marth finished dressing himself (AN: My baby's growing up... sniffle) and spun around so abruptly that Tasha shut her eyes so rapidly that it didn't really look all that convincingly real. Marth frowned upon the dark-haired girl in suspicion for a moment, before dismissing what he thought he'd seen as ridicule and yanking his messy, shoulder-length black hair out of it's ponytail and finally swinging his feet up onto the camp bed and letting out a sigh.

About five minutes later, Tasha heard someone approach and she assumed it was the medics, coming to drop the Hiwatari kid off. She was right.

"Martheo Kon?"

Marth grunted and rolled over, finally looking up blurry-eyed at the medic who was carrying his niece on a stretcher bed with another medic behind him, supporting the back of the stretcher.

"We have the fourth member of your squadron. She'll be out of action for about a week for monitoring- I reckon that girl came darn near close to having a heart attack. She just wasn't ready for a battle of this calibre."

Marth nodded sleepily and gestured to Lita's bed, so the medics gently placed the sleeping girl onto the spare bed and left. Artemis rolled over in her sleep and let out a small sigh as the two men exited the tent, and Tasha could see her grasping her beyblade in the shafts of moonlight illuminating their tent.

Fifteen minutes later, Tasha could feel herself drifting off to sleep... she felt alert... tired, but alert, as she usually did. But her peace was shattered when she heard a voice whispering desperately to her squadron leader, him grunting some incomprehensible replies and eventually leaving the tent.

"Loch said we have to go find anyone who leaves the tent. I'll have to be the one to do it," she thought, swinging gracefully out of the bed and yanking her clothes on over the top of her underwear. "The stupid boy wouldn't know if his head was on fire, for all the attention he pays to his superiors..."

She finished redressing herself and wandered into the night, to find her leader.

'Something's not normal about their whole family; that's a well-known fact. I probably won't have to dig around much to get to the bottom of it, however. I need to find out why the Kon family has shrouded itself in secrecy for so long... could it be because of Marth and his sisters?

'But they do have plenty of enemies that would love to get their paws on Ray and Mariah... but I always assumed that it was just because of their fame as 'bladers... but this shows that you can never trust assumption...'

Tasha walked past the tent of Marth's sister, Kirralee, and heard his voice from inside.

"Aa, so this is where..." she murmured. And with that, she slipped into the tent.

Umm... very slightly flashback

Kirra slumped onto her uncomfortable camp bed and rolled over, trying to cut out the sound of Mahalia talking to Kamali. Kurai had long since fallen asleep, with the pure white bandage still wrapped around his head- the gash he'd sustained didn't appear to be too deep, and it wasn't bleeding at all now, so that was definitely a good sign. And Kirra felt relieved for this- he was out of action for at least a week, to watch for signs of concussion.

"Well... it's eleven pm, I reckon it's time for a little celebration," Mahalia's voice said from behind Kirra. This time Kirra rolled over, interested in what the older woman was up to.

"What's worth celebrating?" Kamali questioned.

"Surviving the first day," Mahalia answered, noticing Kirra's sudden attentiveness to what she was saying and smiling. She reached over into her black rucksack and withdrew two dark maroon coloured bottles... bottles that looked like they might hold alcohol...

"Saviour!" Kirra breathed, jumping out of bed and grabbing one of the three bottles that were now lying on the dirt floor. "You, Mahalia, are my own personal Jesus Christ."

"Don't forget it," Mahalia responded, her dark eyes dancing in amusement.

Kamali, however, looked uncertain.

"You sure we should be getting pissed, seeing that we have to get up and fight an omnipotent, inexhaustible army tomorrow?"

"Look at it this way; if you do get injured tomorrow, it'll hurt less if you have a hangover," Kirra replied, before an idea came to her... "I'll go get my brother, he's just a few tents away. Is there enough for him?"

Mahalia nodded and Kirra smiled. "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail, in that case."

Kirra stepped out of her tent and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark. After sitting in a tent lit by a kerosene lamp, it was pretty hard to see in the dark for a while. After about thirty seconds, her eyes had adjusted and she could see almost perfectly, even in the moonless night. She crept past the few other tents until she got to where Marth and his team had set up camp, and was relieved to find that the lamp was still on in their tent too.

"Pst! Marth!" Kirra whispered hurriedly, and was a little agitated after he didn't answer. "Marth, are you asleep?"

"... I was..."

"Well... Mahalia's got us a little celebratory treat down at our tent. How about you come and celebrate surviving the first day with us?"

"Yeah... the other's are asleep... as long as they don't wake up I'll be fine."

"Good, are you coming?"

A few seconds later, Marth stepped out of the tent wearing nothing but his black boxers and white t-shirt.

"Ooh, very sexy, little brother. Trying to impress someone?"

Marth glared, but had to stop to stifle a yawn.

"Let's just go, Kiz, I'm tired..." he murmured once he'd stopped yawning.

"Of course. Wouldn't want you to be tired for 'impressing' that asshole tomorrow," Kirra whispered in reply, referring to Loch.

"He doesn't like us. Even if we killed the whole lot of those things I doubt he'd utter so much as a 'Good Work'," Marth growled, as Kirra nodded in agreement, and gestured to her brother that they should start moving.

When they got back to Kirra's tent, Mahalia and Kamali's faces both burst into grins.

"Good, you're back. You sure took your time," Mahalia commented.

"Good things come to those who wait."

"Good point," Mahalia whispered, withdrawing a corkscrew from her bag and sticking it into the top of the nearest bottle. Kirra's eyes lighted up and she licked her lips once, very slowly, like a hungry animal.

"Gimme that first one, will ya?"

Mahalia handed the bottle to Kirra, who took a long swig from the bottle, and, judging by the looks of things, done a pretty good job of almost draining it on the first go.

"Kirralee..." Kamali whispered.

"Kirra!" she snarled in reply, "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Marth's eyes widened as he sat down on his sister's unoccupied bed. She was a bitch, and no one could deny that (she herself actually seemed rather proud of the fact) but it was usually sarcasm rather than downright harshness.

Kamali fell silent, and muttered a hurried apology before averting his eyes and looking rather downhearted.

"That was rather harsh," a voice from the entrance to the tent stated. Kirra glared around to face Tasha Reeves who was standing at the entry of the tent and looking down on the small group of people with an emotion somewhere between suspicion and concern.

"Coming from you?" Kirra raised her eyebrows and gasped in mock surprise. Tasha rolled her eyes.

"You really are a bitch."

"Fuckin' A I am. And what do you happen to be doing here?" Kirra snarled at Tasha, who simply let a small smirk tug at her lips before stepping into the tent.

"Looking for him," she said, cocking her head at Marth.

"Since when were you my chaperone?" Marth questioned.

"Since Loch made the command that whenever a soldier went missing, we had to look for them before reporting it and causing a fuss."

"Yeah, well Loch, in my opinion, is a pin-dicked little son of a bitch that needs a swift kick up the arse," Mahalia said innocently.

"I think you and me are gonna get along EXCELLENTLY, Mahalia..." Kirra drawled, giggling a bit and placing the bottle to her lips again.

"Not if you die from alcohol poisoning before we get the chance," Mahalia commented.

"I'm fine!" Kirra snapped, attempting to stand up but slumping back down to the ground quickly.

"Sure you are..." Marth commented, before he gestured for the next bottle to be directed his way.

Marth ended up only having a few quick sips, due to his universal belief that all alcohol was bad (as told by his mother, whilst pouring herself another glass of wine) so he'd passed the bottle on to Tasha, who had simply gave him a look, and swiftly shoving it into Kamali's outstretched palm. The brown-haired man had finished off the bottle, and appeared rather... over-excited.

"You know, Tasha was right Kiz..." Marth muttered, before brushing a few black bangs that had fallen loose behind his ear, "You are really harsh to that guy."

"I am not. I'm not harsh to you, am I?" Kirra asked, batting her eyelashes in a seductive, severely drunken fashion.

"Of course you are," Kamali retorted, looking highly insulted, "You never stop giving me shit."

At that point, Kirra started laughing like a maniac.

"What's your problem?" Tasha questioned.

"I've never heard this guy swear before, is all," Kirra said, mirth playing with her voice.

"So?"

"It's just that he really never seemed like the type to me," Kirra commented quietly.

"Well, I am," Kamali grinned, and pulled Kirra onto his lap, causing her to shriek in surprise and clamp her arm around his neck for support. At that point, he let out a string of explicit words and Kirra snorted with laugher, whilst everyone else's eyes widened in shock.

"... I'm going. This is getting ridiculous. I'd never let anyone I was related to get drunk like that," Tasha muttered, before turning on her heel and leaving the tent. Marth rose up from the floor and stretched before waving at his sister, Kamali and Mahalia.

"I'd better be off too. She'll go through me when I get back to the tent."

"Have fun, little brother! She probably thinks you're so masculine and sexy when you're obedient like that..." Kirra smiled, waving her brother off with her spare hand. He paused momentarily at this statement, and sighed, very slightly- but not slightly enough for Kirra to miss it.

"Oh... so I'm right! You'd better watch yourself Theo, or your chastity belt will start beeping and Mum'll be down here, telling you off."

"Goodnight!" Marth snapped, a little too loudly, and he left the tent.

Mahalia crawled over to her camp bed, and muttered something about 'sleeping it off and would Kirra and Kamali be needing "protection"'.

"I've already got protection!" Kirra replied, retrieving her katana from beside her bed. Mahalia grinned at Kirra, and crawled under the sheets on her bed.

"My God, you are drunk."

She then rolled over and dimmed the kerosene lamp so that it was dark enough to sleep, but light enough for one to see what she or he was doing.

"You look nice in the dim light," Kirra giggled.

"That's because you can't see my face," Kamali replied.

"Don't be stupid, you're actually kind of attractive in an intriguing kind of way..."

"Never thought I'd here that coming from you," Kamali grinned.

"... Come to think of it, I never thought I'd hear that coming from me," Kirra retorted, looking rather confused.

Kamali laughed softly and placed his arm around Kirra's hips.

"Well, you just said it, regardless."

Their eyes locked, and Kirra breathed in once, and then exhaled, very slowly.

"... Did I?"

Kamali nodded, and used to convenient position of his arms to draw Kirra closer to him. He heeded her sharp intake of breath but she made absolutely no effort to get away.

The pair both let their eyes fall shut as their lips met, and Kirra let Kamali take control and draw her so close that their bodies pressed together and they felt each other's heartbeats vibrating against their chests. Kirra felt an emotion somewhere between shock and pure lust as she felt Kamali's tongue softly part her lips and brush against her fangs, and she eventually opened her jaw just enough to let his tongue past and start an unhurried, but passionate dance with her own.

Kirra snuggled into his warm figure and slowly ran the tips of her fingers down his cheek... his neck... his chest... his abdomen, until she reached the rim of his pants and gave a playful tug.

At this point, Kamali broke away from her and gasped for air. Kirra glanced at him in question, and he simply stared back, his eyes full of longing but he had a mature, composed look on her face that was beginning to worry her...

She began to lean in again but Kamali shook his head and sighed.

"Why not?" Kirra whispered.

"Because we're both drunk... it's not right..."

Kirra sighed, and the pair moved away from each other awkwardly, both staring in opposite directions, away from each other.

"I 'spose we should go to bed, then," Kamali said fixedly.

Kirra nodded and walked over to her bed, pushing the empty booze bottles off onto the floor, tired, and annoyed that she hadn't got what she wanted.

She heard the springs give a mighty groan as Kamali slumped onto his bed, and turn off the kerosene lamp completely.

"Goodnight, Kiz."

Kirra contemplated blasting him for calling her by her pet name, but let it pass... she'd get him next time.

"Goodnight."

Kamali and Kirra shut their eyes and attempted sleep, but didn't succeed for a long time, due to the fact that their minds were on each other. But, smile highlighted in the moonlight, was a person that had seen the whole thing. Mahalia let out a small sigh of contentment as she contemplated what she'd just witnessed between the two younger people.

'They really are rather amusing, but also rather sweet... I'm glad one of them has a sense of moral,' she thought, glancing at Kamali and smiling. 'Goodnight, kids.'


	8. A game of Cheat and a severe hangover

This chapter is shocking- I didn't want it to turn out this way but it just did, and I can't think of what else to do to it.

It always began with the running; not running like you would in a race or when partaking in a playful sort of rivalry with friends or family, but a terrified flee from something that filled you with such pure terror that you were willing to use every ounce of energy you had trying to escape it.

Mariah grasped Trinity's hand tightly as they ran away from the Quadroon, that still hounded her dreams, even seven years later, and she heard herself scream as one of it's attacks brushed past her cheek and left a paper-thin cut in its wake. She knew it was getting closer to her and her child, so she began to run as fast as her legs could carry her, dragging the terrified ten-year-old behind her. Both were now running to their fullest extent, with Trinity clear ahead of Mariah and slowly getting smaller in the distance. Mariah called out, but it appeared that her daughter couldn't hear her.

Her foot snagged on something and she fell over, and lay facedown on the ground for a moment, before coming to her senses and standing up again, to find the beast standing directly over her, its rancid breath rustling her pink locks and making them slide back over her shoulder. Mariah tried to scream, but her voice caught in her throat as Quadroon swiped at her and knocked her to the ground. She shrieked as pain shot through her side, and tried to sit up, but found her arms weighted down by some unknown force, utterly useless for trying to right herself. Quadroon picked her up and stood her on her feet, facing away from itself, plainly amused with her futile attempts at escape. Mariah found her limbs unlocking and she craned her neck to see the creature behind her, but spun around again, surprised, when she heard a high-pitched cry.

Mariah looked down into her own arms to find Trinity in them, but not as a ten-year old, as a tiny infant, flailing her tiny arms helplessly and doing the only thing babies could do when something that unnerved them, and that was to release a scream with enough pitch to shatter glass. Quadroon seemed irritated with this new and loud noise, so it crouched down and aimed for its final attack on the two frightened people. Mariah's body stood there, wide-eyed, watching her death come, but her mind screamed for her to at least attempt escape. And as the beast's attack headed home, Mariah threw her spare hand up in front of her face and screamed, while holding her child with the other...

"Mari!"

Mariah forced her eyes open and found herself staring directly into her husband's pair of near identical ones. She felt Ray's body relax against her own and he shut his eyes for a moment, obviously relieved, and then opened them again to stare seriously at his wife.

"It was the dream again, wasn't it?"

Mariah nodded slowly, and her fringe touched Ray's brow every time she inclined her head.

Ray sighed, leaned forward and kissed Mariah softly in a somewhat comforting way. Mariah shut her eyes once again and let herself be engulfed by Ray's comforting warmth. Ray let out a slight breath of relief and placed his lips on Mariah's neck momentarily, and then pulled back but drew her closer to him. He then shut his own eyes and made an attempt to get back to sleep, but this effort was halted when he felt Mariah shudder. At first he assumed she'd just taken in breath a little too quickly, but the shuddering continued and she sniffled a bit. Only then did he actually realize that Mariah was trying to refrain from breaking out into full-on sobs.

"Mari, what's wrong?"

"Ray, I'm scared..."

"Of what?" He didn't sound annoyed or tired, just concerned.

"The kids are acting weird... and the bit beasts showed up with nowhere to go... and they always act like they're anticipating something..."

Mariah's hysterical ranting was halted when Ray placed his index finger softly to her lips.

"Mao, yi ding hui mei shi," Ray soothed his wife in their native tongue, and she smiled, in a rather exhausted manor but it was a smile nonetheless.

Mariah grinned cheekily and gave Ray a swift poke in the stomach, which caused him to match the grin.

"Arigatou, Rei."

"Japanese now, huh? In that case... Mao no nihongo wa sugoi desu."

Mariah laughed and Ray ran his tongue up her neck.

"Mao wa kawaii desu. Wo ai ni."

Mariah nodded and imbued her husband with a passionate kiss, and squirmed in so she could be closer to him. Ray slipped his arms around her waist and felt her bare skin react against his. And both of them were looking forward to what they knew was coming...

"Room Service!" an Austrian-accented voice called from outside the Honeymoon Suite door. Mariah broke away and smiled at her husband, who looked slightly disappointed.

"There will be time, Ray."

Ray nodded and swung off the bed to try and find some clothes.

"Umm... Ray?"

"Yes, Mari?"

"We left our clothes at the front door."

"Here..." Ray tossed her a complementary robe from their ensuite and she wrapped it around herself gratefully. The two lovers then wrapped their arms around each other and went to face the day.

"They suspect."

"No they do not."

"I can see into my mistress's mind... she is weary."

"She cannot know yet. And even if they did know, they have never done anything to prevent it before."

"I know that."

"We will just have to wait and hope that this works to our favour."

"Kirra, you have to get up." Mahalia's voice echoed through Kirra's head and the pink-haired woman moaned in a world-weary manor and rolled over.

"C'mon, Only five more days until our battalion gets a rest for a day. You can't be tired yet..."

"Yeah, but she's hung-over." Marth's voice entered the conversation. Kirra snarled and opened her eyes but immediately closed them when she found the sun was shining directly into her face.

"Late night?"

Kirra sat up at the sound of Artemis' voice, but lay down again after her head gave a very painful throb.

"You could say that," she muttered huskily.

"From what I heard, you actually quite enjoyed yourselves," Artemis commented.

"They all have fun until the hangover hits," Tasha's voice replied.

"Why are you here?" Kirra snapped immediately.

"Your brother is my commander, he came here so I came too," the dark-haired girl responded.

"Marth... go somewhere else so that idiot goes away..."

"Does she always treat you so badly?" Tasha questioned of Marth, ignoring Kirra's shocking attempt at insulting her.

"She's my older sister. It's like an occupation."

"Well, maybe it's time that you got some revenge."

Marth snorted and clenched his fist. "I'm not a vengeful person by nature."

"I can tell," Tasha said, and an expression appeared on her face, somewhere between a smirk and a grin. Marth inclined his head, half out of interest and half out of surprise.

"Look, your sister, who has pretty much complete domination over you as far as I can tell, is pissed out of her mind, and you're not willing to jump at the opportunity to get revenge?" Artemis asked.

"No." Marth replied.

"Suit yourself," Artemis muttered, looking rather huffy. Tasha said nothing but continued to stare at Marth with a somewhat concentrated expression on her face.

"Where's Kamali?" Kirra whispered in question to Mahalia, while the other three people continued their conversation about whether Marth should take this chance to get revenge.

"He's gone ahead to breakfast."

"Why isn't he lying here in agony like me?" Kirra whined in a juvenile manor.

"After what you two got up to last night, I'm surprised the lucky kid isn't out there taking on the world," Mahalia grinned.

"What are you...?" Kirra started, but she never finished because something in her memory of the previous night tweaked...

"Oh SHIT. Did I really do that...?" Kirra murmured.

"Sure as anything. I saw the whole damn thing."

"Damn you," Kirra snarled, ashamed to feel heat rise to her face.

"C'mon, we've gotta get going if we don't want Loch to eat us alive."

"Anything's better than that sloppy crap they tried to feed us yesterday," Kirra snarled.

Mahalia grinned an offered a dark-skinned hand to Kirra.

"We'll have to see if they have something for hangovers in the medical tent..."

Kamali sat at his squadron's table, stabbing into the same sloppy food as he had forced himself to eat yesterday, with the air of a person stabbing someone they truly despised to death.

'Okay... so you kissed the girl. Big deal. You like her, but she acts like she really couldn't care less if you were dead, alive or whatever's in between. But last night, she was acting as though she felt it too...'

'She was drunk...' sniggered an irritating little voice in the back of his mind.

'When you're drunk you still have some state of mind though.'

'Forget it, kid. You're out of your class by a long shot.'

At that point, Kamali was rocked out of his thoughts by two more metals trays being slammed down onto the table. He looked upwards, and Mahalia was standing there, supporting Kirra, who looked violently ill.

"What's wrong with her?" Kamali questioned of Mahalia conversationally. Kirra shot Kamali a look that could kill and Mahalia smirked as she helped Kirra onto the cold metal bench so she could attempt to eat without gagging.

"You're actually looking rather good for someone who was completely smashed last night," Mahalia commented.

"I wasn't as smashed as she obviously was."

"You still should be sick," Kirra slurred, forking some of the usual muck they were fed and attempting to feed herself, but missing her mouth entirely.

Kamali shrugged. "Perhaps I'm just one of the lucky ones."

"In more ways than one?" Mahalia snapped immediately, her eyes bright, ready to spread the rumour. Kirra turned her glare from Kamali to Mahalia and Kamali blushed and found out his feet were as interesting as they were ever going to look, at this point in time.

"Heh... so my eyes weren't deceiving me."

"You DARE tell anyone..." Kirra began to threaten, but Mahalia cut her off.

"I know. I wouldn't want to get someone like you pissed off anyway on account of I wouldn't live to see the next day."

Kirra nodded, content with Mahalia's promise, and suddenly noticed Kamali was looking rather disappointed.

"What's your problem?" she snarled, as if daring him to say anything. Kamali shook his head and Kirra once again nodded.

'You like him. Face it, you can't deny it forever," Mysticala's voice echoed in Kirra's head.

'Oh thank you, doctor Sigmund Bit Beast," Kirra retorted sarcastically. 'And I can deny it for as long as I damn well want.'

'So you do like him...'

'What? Damn it, you tricked me," Kirra spat.

Mysticala made no response but laughed as Kirra felt her presence fade.

'Stupid bit beast.'

'Don't insult yourself now.'

'Marth! What are you doing, listening in on me?'

'That's right. Consider it revenge for what you found out last night.'

'Tasha Reeves...' Kirra muttered sarcastically.

'Kamali Xao...' Marth shot back in exactly the same tone as Kirra had used. 'The irritating guy that follows us around and idol-worships us for some reason...'

'And Tasha Reeves, the sadistic bitch,' Kirra pointed out.

'Oh, now I've heard them all.'

Marth left Kirra's mind, and she could tell he was angry.

'Fine, be that way,' she hissed, before turning back to her teammates.

"How long until we go out?"

"About half an hour," Kamali said, squinting to see one of the television screens that had previously shown names of the injured and deceased.

"Excellent. Maybe by then we'll be able to dig up some hangover tablets," Mahalia smiled. "The medical tent didn't have any left."

Trinity scanned her children's medical reports repeatedly, just to make sure she hadn't misread any of the details.

"Trin... you've read those things about fifty times. The kids are fine, okay?" Kai said, very slowly, so as not to upset her by thinking he was just getting impatient.

"I know! Don't you think I know that?" she snarled.

"You're frustrated."

"I'm not."

"Don't lie. I can tell."

"I'm not."

"You are."

Trinity spun around as she heard her father's voice, startled, and he grinned.

"Plus you're tense. I scared the Hell out of you."

"Did not!" Trinity replied, but she let loose a kind of strangled sob afterwards.

Ray sighed and walked over to sit next to his daughter, and pulled her into a hug, while shooting Kai a 'shouldn't you be doing this?' look over his shoulder.

"This is completely pointless. Whether they just kill everyone or find some way to get around them, we're going to lose," Trinity whimpered.

"You did what you thought was right, Trin. And I know that everyone will follow you to the bitter end because they trust in your judgement," Ray soothed.

"They're not going to respect me after they watched their loved ones die."

"They joined this company, fully aware of what the consequences could be if we were ever to enter battle again. If they want to get mad at someone they can really only blame themselves because it was their choice and they were in knowledge that they were to follow your orders and may very well die," Ray stated simply to his eldest daughter.

"I know, but... I can't help feeling guilty about sending my own children out to fight... they're only seven years old."

"Now you know how we felt when you three were so eager to run out there and risk your lives for the sake of everyone else's," Ray replied, standing up and stretching a bit before walking to the door, but when he got there, he paused. "Perhaps it's about time the rest of the Senshi returned the favour, seeing that you three did a lot more than the whole rest of the barracks." Ray then turned to Kai, who raised one eyebrow in question.

"Look after my daughter, Kai," he stated, before leaving the room, and there was a certain tone in his voice that showed he was serious.

Kai nodded to the empty doorway, and then walked over to Trinity.

"Your father was wrong. WE did what WE thought was best..."

Trinity stared at Kai and he smiled. "Are we not both in charge of this company?"

Trinity nodded and Kai grasped her hand and sat down next to her.

"If anyone wants to go through you for what you've done, I certainly won't let you go through it alone."

"C'mon, it's our turn to go out," Mahalia said, glancing at her watch and nodding slowly, affirming that she was right.

Kirra nodded and stood up at a snail's pace. She felt violently ill after forcing that slop down her throat and frankly she wouldn't be surprised if she didn't...

"Are you okay? You're looking kind of queasy," Kamali remarked.

"Yeah... let's just go before I change my mind and decide I'm sick as a dog."

"Sounds good to me," Mahalia muttered. The three people exited the food tent and Kirra noticed that her little brother was still sitting at a nearby table with Tasha and Artemis. And they looked like they were playing... cards?

'He must be going out in the afternoon...' Kirra thought, before determinedly turning her thoughts from her brother and stepping out into the sunlight.

"Three aces," Artemis stated evenly, placing three cards facedown on the pile.

"Cheat," Tasha said.

"Damn you," Artemis snarled, dragging the considerable pile of cards towards herself and picking them up, adding them to her hand.

"Two kings," Marth said, starting the new pile as he placed his cards down.

"Cheat," Tasha said.

Marth grinned. "Nope."

Tasha scowled and picked up the two loose cards and saw that he was indeed playing fairly.

"Jeez, it's only a game. Don't look like it's the end of the world," Marth commented, hurriedly combing a loose strand of hair behind his ear. He didn't want them to think he was screwing around with his hair to try and IMPRESS them. 'Jesus Christ, no wonder I'm so hopeless with women.'

'You can say that again. Maybe you should get your father to help you, he seemed to have a special gift with the ladies. Especially your mother, may I add.'

'Thank you, Cisia!' Marth replied to the voice in his head.

He only had two cards left in his hand, so the two girls were determined to bring him down before he won.

"Four queens," Tasha stated, laying her cards facedown slowly and grinning.

"Cheat," Marth said. Tasha shook her head and Marth blinked, and grabbed the four loose cards and added them to his hand.

'Damn it... she was playing fair,' he snarled, staring down at his one six, one nine and four queens.

"Four sixes," Artemis smiled triumphantly, and laid her final four cards down on the table.

"Cheat," Tasha and Marth said on par with each other, and Artemis pouted and grabbed her four cards back. "I'm not good at this."

"No kidding," Tasha grinned. "One six."

Neither Artemis nor Marth spoke up, so Tasha brushed off her empty hands with the air of someone finishing something that had taken her a long time and excruciating effort.

"Looks like I win, then."

"Damn it. I would've won if I hadn't fallen for your feint," Marth muttered.

"Now, now... it is only a game," Tasha smirked. Marth glowered at the dark-haired girl and she shrugged, stood up and walked away, leaving her two stunned teammates behind her.

Artemis was the first to recover and she shook her head.

"I don't get her at all."

"I don't think anyone does," Marth commented. 'Although I wouldn't mind getting to know her a bit better. She's kind of weird but I like her.'

"Oh well, no point in worrying about her. She seems like the kind of person who takes pride in being able to take care of herself. Up for a game of snap?" Artemis asked. Marth nodded and smiled.

"I guarantee I won't lose this one."

"Don't bet on it," Tasha said as she returned to the table and reclaimed her seat.

"Which face of the earth did you disappear to?" Artemis asked.

"That's none of your concern."

Artemis shrugged and brushed on caramel coloured stand of hair out of her face.

"Suit yourself."

"I will."

Suddenly, Loch entered the tent in all of his glory (AN: Pfft. Glory my ass). Marth rolled his golden pupils high into his head and Artemis looked away, seemingly determined not to make eye contact. Tasha, however, looked over, intent to catch every word the supposed 'leader' of this entire operation had to say.

"Squadron B?"

Marth hesitated for about ten seconds, but then realized everyone was either staring at them or gesturing towards them, so he raised his hand of the table by about fifteen centimetres, obviously assuming this wasn't going to be worth the effort.

"I got word that one of your people got injured from shock..." Loch said, harsh laughter playing in his voice.

"She's seven years old." Marth's voice was dangerously quiet as he replied and shot Tasha a glare as she nodded slowly. She stopped without delay. Usually she wouldn't have but there was a dangerous glint in her leader's eyes that told her it would be the wisest choice.

"She's still a member of this army."

"You can judge the rest of us..." Marth snarled, violently standing up and knocking over the bench he was sitting on, "When you actually get out there and take part in the fight!"

"I am the leader of this operation!"

"No, you're the fuckwit out here giving us orders because my sister is back at the base trying to save our asses!" Marth shouted back, his eyes beginning to glint a dangerous gold.

"Your sister is doing nothing!"

Marth glared and his eyes shone with a bright gold and he raised his hand, ready to strike.

"How dare you!" He shouted, and his voice sounded out much deeper than it's usual tone as he swiped his raised hand past Loch's face at lightning speeds. He stood there for a moment, like deer caught in headlights before topping over. Marth regained his composure and looked down on the man, who now had three bright red cuts across his cheek.

"Coming?" he snapped to Tasha and Artemis, who had been sitting there through the whole ordeal like stunned mullets. They nodded and followed Marth out of tent. Tasha frowned at Marth once she was out of the tent.

'So legends do have truth behind them...'

Kirra yawned, swung her fist behind her head to hit a stealth enemy, and glared at her bit beast, which was keeping a steady pace at her side in her human form. Kirra had ripped a part of her high-collared shirt off to compress a cut on her left shoulder, and to stop the bleeding.

"What are you doing, being my escort?"

"It is my job to guard you."

"I do not need guarding. I am able to look after myself."

At that point, the bit beast changed back to its usual feline form and swiped at another enemy that had just attempted to attacks her mistress.

'Oh don't you, now?'

"Cala, just go and protect one of the weaker people. I don't need a chaperone. Go and look out for Kamali or something."

'You care for the boy more than you think you do.'

"Bull," Kirra snapped.

'No I'm a mountain cat.'

"Don't get my attitude now," Kirra smirked and she made a feeble punch at an enemy, who dodged with ease, but was swatted down by the bit beast seconds later.

'As you wish.'

The bit beast then dashed away, as per her mistress' prior command, and Kirra continued to pick off the few stragglers that hadn't managed to get into the main mass of the battle.

Kirra kicked at another challenger sloppily, and it swerved to one side and lined up an attack. Kirra snarled and lunged forward, but once again missed and fell to the ground. The creature hissed triumphantly and lined up its final attack...

And Kamali jumped past and decapitated it with Kirra's old katana, which she had submitted to him the day before. Blood had been dripping from a gash in his forehead, but it appeared that it had ceased bleeding because the trails of blood that were staining the side of his face were dry.

"Are you alright, Kirra?" Kamali asked, offering her a hand that she gratefully accepted. "Your bit beast said you were in a little bit of trouble."

Kirra glared at Mysticala, who waved its tail innocently.

'Traitor.'

'Is it traitorous to ask for assistance from an ally?' the great cat said, before dashing off.

"Kirra?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if you want me to stay here with you for a while."

"Not necessary," Kirra snapped, yanking her hand from Kamali's grasp. "I'm fine."

"If you say so..." Kamali said, brushing his chocolate brown hair out of his face and running off towards the nearest of the attackers (which wasn't very far, Kirra noted) and began hacking away at its armoured back.

Kirra turned one eighty degrees to look for another target, and was caught by surprise when she felt something wet drip onto her head.

"Rain?" she wondered out loud. 'But there's not a cloud in the sky...'

She felt another splash of moisture hit her cheek and she reached up to brush it away, while still looking around to find where it could have come from. It wasn't cold, and was a little too thick in mixture to be water...

At that point, she actually looked down at the hand she'd used to wipe it away, and found her palm and fingers smeared with red. A sharp cry suddenly sounded out from above her and she saw a larger version of her enemy holding up what looked quirkily like...

"A human head..." someone close to Kirra muttered. At that point, her stomach gave a severe lurch and she forced herself to take long, deep breaths to try and calm down as she sunk to her knees and then sat down, still breathing heavily. All of the surviving enemies were hissing their approval as some of the bit beasts and humans regained their senses and began picking them off once more.

The larger one that was still holding up the decapitated head hissed down on the humans and bit beasts and out of the corner of its eye, noticed Kirra looking up at it with the pinnacle of human disgust. It pushed its fanged mouth into a grin of some sorts and dropped the head, screeching in delight as it landed perfectly in the middle of Kirra's lap.

Kirra stared in at the violated appendage with the same look of horror the head itself wore, frozen in the person's last moments of life, dripping with blood, he screaming in terror as his attackers had reached forward and...

Kirra felt her cheeks puff out and pushed the head off her lap violently and stood up hurriedly, stumbling away as far as she could get away from the look of terror that was now burned into her mind. Finally she decided she was far enough away and doubled over, gagging and retching every time the memory of the decapitated head came back into her mind, until she'd emptied her stomach and just stood there choking and coughing violently, with her face flushed.

"Kirra!" Kamali's voice came through the ruckus. "It's time for us to go back!"

Kirra didn't even turn her head. Instead, she just stood there, taking in huge gulps of air as Kamali and Mahalia rushed towards her. Mahalia reached her first, and looked down at the ground just in front of her. The older woman was limping and there was some dried blood up the leg she was limping on, staining her dark skin with red.

"Holy shit," she commented, "If you felt that sick she would've taken you up to the medics tent."

Kirra snarled, spat on the ground to rid herself of the foul taste in her mouth and jammed one middle finger up at Mahalia, while keeping her other hand on her knee to support herself.

"Charming," Mahalia grinned. "I'll have to tell that Loch bastard that the slop he's feeding us ain't good for your digestive system. Heck, I have you as proof, kid."

Kamali finally caught up and raised his eyebrows at the mess Kirra had made on the ground in front of her. "Jeez, just how much did you drink last night? I probably got drunker just from you ki..."

"Stop there," Kirra gasped, attempting to straighten up but failing. "I don't want to think about some of the crazy crap I did on occasions when I was drunk."

"So, how're we gonna get her back?" Mahalia asked Kamali, looking over her shoulder at the continuing battle. "It seems we're still holding up all right."

"That doesn't matter," Kirra whispered. "These are the lower ranking enemy. They'll send in the elite ones once they think both our supplies and our bodies have been exhausted."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Can't get much tougher than this."

Kirra grimaced at her friend's disbelief in her knowledge and once again tried to stand up straight and once again failed marvellously.

"Here..." Kamali said, kneeling down and knocking Kirra off her feet and into his arms. He was effectively cradling her like a child and Mahalia grinned at Kirra who was too damn tired to scowl so blushed instead. Together the three people made their way off the battlefield and back to their tent.

They met Marth, Tasha and Artemis about halfway there and Marth stared at his sister and Kamali and grinned.

"Jeez, what happened to her?"

"The alcohol got its revenge on her, I think," Mahalia smiled down on the younger girl.

"Well, I suppose she got what she deserved," Marth commented, and he shuddered when he got a glare from his sister in return.

"So, where are you three off to?" Kamali asked.

"Well, it's obvious that you three just got back from battle, and we were ordered to replace a squadron, so it must be you guys..." Tasha murmured.

"How can you tell we just got back?" Kirra questioned sharply.

"You're covered in mud, blood and what looks like your breakfast," Tasha shot back.

Kirra rolled her eyes and immediately felt dizzy. She grabbed onto the front of Kamali's shirk and he blushed very slightly.

Marth smiled. "Look after my sister, Kamali."

The three B squadron warriors then stalked off to replace Kamali, Kirra and Mahalia.

(Early hours of the morning)

It was now about two in the morning, and the fights had finished for the day. Kirra, Kamali and Mahalia had had their wounds patched up and were now back in their tent. Kirra hadn't seen her brother, Tasha or Artemis again, even at dinner, but according to the TV screens, they weren't dead, missing or severely injured.

The category 'missing' had recently been added to 'dead' and 'injured', and was basically a fancy way of saying, 'injured beyond identification'.

"You know Kirra, you really should be asleep," Mahalia commented, taking a sip from one of her liquor bottles and brushing on dark, surly strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm fine, damn it. How many times do I have to be babied before you get it through your head?"

"When your face goes back to its usual tan instead of white it'd be good..." Kurai muttered. He was still groggy from the blow to the head but seeing that he'd slept the whole day he'd woken up at this ungodly hour unable to get back to sleep. Good thing Mahalia, Kamali and Kirra were usually still awake at ungodly hours anyway.

"Your skin is always white, kid, and you're criticizing me?" Kirra asked, but she was smiling.

"My father is Russian. All Russians look like snowmen, basically," Kurai scowled.

"Your mother was Chinese though," Mahalia pointed out.

"Obviously didn't get much of Trin's blood," Kirra muttered. "But then again, I don't think either of them did. Maybe one day if Marth ever finds someone to have kids with, they'll end up looking like Daddy."

"What about you?" Mahalia questioned, smiling as she did so.

"Hell no!" Kirra snapped, looking shocked at the very mention of herself being a mother.

"You'd be a terrible example for your kids anyway," Mahalia joked.

"Hah, hah, hah..." Kirra said sarcastically.

"That's what they all say. Mum reckons she used to say that all the time," Kurai pointed out. He then yawned and rubbed at his mahogany eyes tiredly, before lying down and keeping then shut.

"You're not wrong, kid. Those were the days, I tell ya," Kirra smiled, before turning to Mahalia. "It's kind of ironic actually, because my sister and Kai have been trying for more for four years with no success, and Kurai and Lita were an accident."

"Sometimes that's the way fate goes..." Mahalia muttered. "Me and my late husband lost three. Two miscarriages and a stillborn."

"Oh... I'm sorry about that," Kirra said awkwardly.

"Bah, I suppose it'd be more depressing to get to know 'em before they went. I suppose I'm lucky I didn't get a chance to get attached."

"Not true. Carry some horrible crying kicking whining puking life form around in your gut for nine months and you're bound to get attached." Kirra stated sarcastically.

"Your parents care for you and you brother and sister a lot, as far as I can tell," Mahalia pointed out.

"Nah, they just enjoyed the conception part of the equation. We were the added bonuses."

Mahalia laughed. "Kid, I'm smack-bang in the middle of eleven brothers and sisters. And God knows our parents didn't give a hoot or holler for any of us."

"Yeah, well they sucked," Kirra, stated firmly. "And I reckon my parents would've tried for twelve. If they had, we would've driven them insane. And if your parents were all that bad, I dunno how they produced a decent person like you."

"Thanks," Mahalia said, smiling at the younger Chinese girl.

"No probs," Kirra replied, "Anywho, can you keep an eye on Kurai? Kamali's asleep so he can't do it, God knows who else could..."

"Of course," Mahalia nodded and looked at the now sleeping blue-haired boy fondly. "He's kinda cute, when he's not biting your head off."

"He's not too bad- he adores his sister. He's definitely Daddy's boy, I think."

"Judging on what I've heard about Hiwatari, I'm not surprised.

"Heh... I'll be at the shower block if you need me," Kirra said, grabbing her knapsack and slinging it over her shoulder.

"At this hour?" Mahalia asked.

"It saves my dignity. No-one else is there at this hour- believe me, I know from experience."

"If you say so. I'll probably be asleep when you get back, though."

"I don't blame you," Kirra murmured, before yawning and stretching a bit. "See ya!"

"See you tomorrow morning," Mahalia shouted into the cold night air. She then spent about five more minutes finishing off the last of the bottle of booze, and tossed the empty glass back in her bag before dimming the kerosene lamp and rolling over, ready for the sleep she desperately needed.

Mahalia was almost asleep, about three minutes later, when Kamali stirred next to her, got up, grabbed his own backpack of possessions and exited the tent. Mahalia watched him go and frowned in confusion.

"I wonder where he's off to..."

I'll give you three guesses where Kamali is going. Wink


	9. Things Kept Hidden

Kitty: Happy New Year! I haven't updated for a while so here we go!

Kirra ploughed through the cool night until she reached her destination- the shower block, a temporary commodity; it was, effectively, an exceedingly large tent with all these temporary showers inside it, with a particularly smooth, rocky part of the scenery as its floor. She tossed her bag onto one of the cold metal benches that had been set up to keep people's possessions out of the water's reach, and yanked off her clothes hurriedly, determined to get in and out of the shower in the shortest time possible, just in case anyone else showed up.

She grabbed various bottles out of her bag, including shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, cleanser, toner and just about every other beauty product under the sun, and proceeded to turn on the nearest tap and let the freezing cold water spill over her. She shuddered- heating was obviously something they'd chosen to neglect.

Kirra was determinedly scrubbing at the dried blood on her arm, caused by the gash that had been afflicted on her shoulder; when she heard someone else enter the shower block. She blinked- once, twice, three times, and realized she was still standing in full view of whoever was about to come through the door. She thought maybe it'd be someone from another squadron; heck, she didn't care, as long as she didn't know them personally. But she was to be proven wrong when Kamali stepped into the tent.

Their eyes locked for a moment, before the steady pink colour that was seeping into Kirra's face turned bright red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"What the Hell are you doing here!" Kirra screamed, reaching up with her arms and trying to cover herself from view as best she could. Kamali stood there, with his mouth opening and shutting stupidly, and when Kirra spoke he started muttering, "Umm... umm..." under his breath.

"That isn't an answer," Kirra growled.

"Umm... well... you're not the only one allowed to use the showers, are you?"

"That's true..." Kirra murmured, raising her hand to scratch her head and realizing Kamali now had a full view of her chest. She blushed furiously and quickly moved it back to cover her chest.

"That doesn't mean you have to stare at me," Kirra added slyly, to get Kamali back for her own slip-up.

"Oh..." Kamali muttered, before spinning ninety degrees and clenching his eyes shut as tightly as he could.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kirra questioned, bemused by Kamali's immediate obeying of her wish.

"Averting my gaze," he said immediately.

"Umm... you don't have to shut your eyes... just refrain from staring at me."

"I don't think I could do that with my eyes open," Kamali whispered, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks in seconds. Kirra blinked; did he actually just comment on her looks? That hadn't happened very many times before... usually the guys went for Trinity because she had a figure that was actually visible.

"Oh... okay," Kirra replied stupidly. She then turned away and almost jumped when she heard Kamali cough from behind her. She could tell what he was doing, and she was determined not to give in to her own impulses, no matter how tempting those impulses were. She saw him step towards one of the many showers out of the very corner of her eye and reach for the tap.

'Okay, Kirra, don't even think of looking over there. Think of something else... think chocolate and booze. Aa yes, the very best combination of food in the entire world,' Kirra smiled rather blissfully in her subconscious state of nirvana and Kamali noticed this.

"You're looking rather happy over there," he commented.

"I don't know WHY you're looking over here," was Kirra's immediate response, and she managed this without breaking eye contact with the wall.

"Sorry..." Kamali muttered.

'Don't lie to yourself. You want to see him too.'

"Shut up, stupid conscience," Kirra muttered.

"Did you say something?" Kamali asked.

"Nothing that concerns you," Kirra responded lightly.

"You know talking to yourself is one of the signs of madness."

"At the moment, I could believe that," Kirra said, with a bit of hysterical laughter in her voice.

"Why is that?" he questioned quietly.

"... I don't know."

At this point, Kirra turned to face him and stared fixedly at his face, afraid that her gaze might wander downwards. And she found Kamali staring fixedly at her... chest?

"Excuse me," she snapped, using her arms to cover her bare skin.

"I was looking at the tattoos," Kamali said, a little too quickly.

"You knew they were there, and they aren't that bloody interesting," Kirra snarled, blushing furiously at the same time.

'Okay, what to do. You were standing there, staring at her chest and she's now pretty pissed off, although she's kind of blushing...'

"What?" Kirra asked, unsure what Kamali was intending to do, unable to read the expression on his face.

In two quick strides, Kamali had arrived at where Kirra stood, and engulfed her in his embrace. Kirra shivered; partly because of the close contact and partly because after putting up with the cold water shower, his skin felt delightfully warm against hers.

Kamali gently placed his hand under her chin and pushed her head up until their eyes were locked. Once that was done, he held Kirra to him by placing his hands upon her waist, sliding them down from where they had been resting on her shoulder blades.

"I know you could get away from me if you wanted to... so why don't you try and move away if you aren't enjoying what's happening to you?"

Kirra didn't reply, frankly because she didn't know how. She knew he was right; in fact, he'd hit the nail right on the head. What was she supposed to do? Pull away and hurt his feelings or stay put and... Well, effectively get what she sought after. Currently she was being rather biased and leaning towards the latter because there sure as Hell seemed to be more in it for her.

"I... don't... know," Kirra replied slowly. "Because I'm not exactly reeling from disgust? But that doesn't mean I'm enjoying it," she added quickly, but lamely. Kamali could probably see right through her half-assed excuses.

"You don't have to be frightened of me," Kamali murmured into her ear, feeling her shudder from the contact of his warm breath against her cold skin.

"I'm not."

"Well, what are you frightened of?"

"That I don't know."

Kamali sighed and pulled away slightly. "Is it me?"

"No!" Kirra exclaimed, blushing at her quick response. She reached up and gently caressed his cheek with the tips of her fingers to try and show she wasn't lying.

Kamali smiled when she stopped doing and slowly leaned forward, fervently capturing Kirra's lips against his own. Kirra slid her left arm cautiously around Kamali's neck, while she left her right hand splayed across his chest, taking in his shape, feeling his skin heat up under her palm, and grinning inwardly as she softly clawed his chest, feeling him shudder from the stimulation.

The next thing Kirra felt was the shower pipe making an indent into her back but she barely noticed because Kamali's hands were working their way down to rest on the outsides of her thighs. Kirra emitted a low growling sound and she jumped, catching Kamali by surprise but managing to lock her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck, with their faces so close that the tips of their noses touched.

As amber once again met sea blue, Kamali leaned forward and kissed Kirra once, very softly on the lips.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Jesus Christ," Kirra said, but it was more of a seductive purr than a sign of rejection. "I was ready for this yesterday. I've been ready for this for a long time, even though you were exasperating and kind of stupid, in a cute way. But maybe... that's what I like about you."

"If you say so,' Kamali said, sounding unsure and delighted and the same time, but beginning to carry her over to the steel benches anyway, obviously disregarding his self-doubt. Kirra doubted she'd ever wanted anything more in the world than desiring to be close to Kamali now, with the possible exception of the two hundred and thirty dollar Barbie Dream Castle she'd wanted she was about eight.

'What the Hell am I on about? I'm all stupid from the sheer pleasure of it. Who cares about the freaking doll house I wanted when I was innocent?' Kirra broke away from her thought and smiled blissfully at Kamali who was now poised above her, 'ready to go', so to speak. 'This is a billion times better...'

"I'll ask one more time..." Kamali whispered against Kirra's neck, loving every moment that his skin held contact with hers, "Are you sure? Because if we continue, I don't think I'll be able to stop myself."

"I'm not going to stop you. Why would I want to do that?" Kirra's eyes shone up at Kamali, filled with concern and the very slightest glint of self-doubt.

"Don't worry yourself. You don't have to worry about that anymore..." Kamali reassured her as he placed a single, soft kiss to the palm of her right hand and once again braced himself.

The ends of Kirra's newly washed hair were caked with mud; something that would usually cause her to have some sort of nervous breakdown was totally disregarded as Kamali leaned forward, towards her...

Kirra felt pain, but it was quickly ebbed away by the feeling of satisfaction, the undying love and the desperation to explore each other further. They continued to feel all these emotions as their bodies moved as though they were indeed two parts of one whole, and eventually they both reached the very pinnacle of human bliss as they shuddered and collapsed against each other.

"We should consider ourselves lucky that no-one heard us..." Kirra muttered, showing that her usual vocabulary was returning and she was able to omit sounds other than growls, moans and purrs.

Kamali nodded in agreement, and kissed the crown of Kirra's head softly. "I think it's best that we go back."

The two people dried off (AN: Don't be sick. They were just in the shower- you know what I mean), dressed and hand-in-hand, hurried back to their tent, relieved to find Mahalia and Kurai sound asleep. Kamali gave Kirra a soft kiss and they exchanged yearning looks before retiring to their own beds and, without even saying the words, proving they loved each other.

They knew they couldn't be seen together, and yet their requirement for each other at this moment, after the first time they had made love to one another, was nothing short of critical. Activities of that nature between two people who weren't married were frowned upon (as ruled by Loch, may I add- Kirra knew it was him and not her parents or sister because that would basically make all three of them hypocrites) and they could both be sent away, and Kirra knew that the Senshi needed her here. Kamali seemed to linger, staying awake to watch Kirra for as long as he could until his body could no longer take the amount of exhaustion being inflicted on it and he drifted off to sleep. Kirra, however, felt surprisingly alert- rather satisfied and calm, yet alert at the same time.

And yet, regardless of how aware she felt she was, she was utterly unaware of the sharp eyes that had been watching them, from the very beginning...

The bright rays of morning sun that had the habit of shining directly where the top of her camp bed was placed woke Kirra very unwillingly. She groaned, shifting and trying to get back to sleep to little avail, eventually opening her eyes and finding her view blocked by something.

She yelped and wiped desperately at her face, and a single folded piece of paper flew off and landed on the floor. She grabbed it and unfolded it carefully, finding a note on the inside, signed at the end by Mahalia.

(AN: This is the note; don't get confused)

Kirra!

I've gone ahead; we got the early shift- 5am till 8am- and I couldn't get either you or Kamali up for the life of me, so they sent me out with your brother and his lot. The medical people are coming to get Kurai at about 8am to change his bandages and just generally see how he is. I said neither you nor Kamali were feeling well so at least try and act sick until 8, okay? You two kids owe me big for this.

I suppose I should explain; Kamali left the tent last night, did you run into him? I don't know what he was doing...

Anywho, see you around!

Mahalia.

(AN: So ends the note)

Kirra's stomach gave a guilty little lurch as she read the note, and she reached over to her bag and dug around desperately to find her watch. She finally found the little golden timepiece, and saw that it was 8:30.

'Mahalia should be back any minute,' Kirra thought, wrapping the watch in one of her t-shirts and placing it back in her bag gently. She heard Kamali stir and she turns her head around sharply to face him. He was staring at her, his liquid blue eyes piercing through her own amber gaze.

"Umm... hi," he said sheepishly, the very lightest of pink tinges rising to his cheeks.

Kirra smiled blissfully and jumped off her camp bed, and crawled over to him and placed a soft kiss to his brow, feeling slightly disappointed that there wasn't any room in his camp bed for her to hop in. Heck, there was barely room for only him because he was so tall and broad of shoulder. Kamali reached over to grasp her hand, which was clinging to the metal frame of the bed.

"Good morning," Kirra said, grinning as he drew her hand onto his chest and leaned forward to brush his lips against her skin. "I found this, by the way. Or, it was where I wouldn't miss it." She handed Kamali the note and as he perused it, his expression became more and more relieved.

"That woman is a saint."

"I know..." Kirra murmured, letting her eyes leisurely scrutinize his torso. Her eyes locked on a thin silver chain that hung from his neck; she'd never perceived it before, not even last night, when she'd basically noticed everything there was to notice physically about him.

"Whassat for?" she whispered, tracing the outline of the glinting chain with her finger, making him quiver very slightly.

"Mark of my Clan," he explained, sitting up so that a tiny medallion slipped from the end of the chain and into view. Kirra grabbed it with the tips of her fingers, acting as though she might shatter it into a billion pieces, and saw that the small pendant had tiny, intricate Chinese symbols on them, and in that way, kind of reminded her of her parents' wedding rings. Basically it was just a record of his name and parents on one side, and some sort of clan right on the opposite side. Kirra wondered if it was his real or adoptive parents' names.

"Xao Shin and Xao Mei..."

"Those are my adopted parents. They kept my first name but changed my family name to their own. It doesn't matter to me; I didn't know my parents and they were the only family I'd ever known, and there's no point in going back after twenty-five years of being called by that name."

"Your real parents are your proper heritage," she whispered.

"I never knew them. What's the point? And my adopted parents were the most wonderful people I'd ever known... but I think I've got a new favourite now," Kamali whispered in an equally quiet tone.

"That's so sweet..." Kirra muttered, with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"That's the first time you've been sarcastic towards me this morning. Usually you would've had a severe sarcasm attack on me already."

"Oh, is that how you see it?" Kirra sniffed, but Kamali could tell she was kidding him. "I was in obvious denial."

"Why were you denying it?" Kamali's eyes flickered to her, and the unwavering blue eyes seemed to delve into the deepest secrets of her soul.

"Umm... don't ask me that. I have no idea..." she sighed, pushing a couple of waist-length pink strands of hair that had fallen loose, behind her ear, out of her face. "I suppose... it's partly because the opposite gender hasn't exactly been forgiving towards me in the past, and that I want to stay here, and not get sent away by Loch... they need me here, Kamali."

'You're still denying it...'

"I know they do. And they need me here too. In fact, they need everybody they can get their hands on here. It makes me wonder why your sister stayed behind... because aren't you, your brother and sister at greatest strength when together?"

Kirra opened her mouth to exclaim her surprise, but he put a finger to her lips to silence her before she began.

"I won't deny I've heard rumours about your entire family- partly fuelled by your parents former fame as champions, the fact that Kai can be here and still rumoured to have died at the same time, and the fact that you and your siblings have the most amazing amount of near boundless potency."

"I don't mind explaining, if you're ready for a rather complicated discussion..." Kirra muttered, and Kamali nodded, sat up and crossed his legs on the cap bed, leaving space for her to sit. She smiled gratefully and jumped on, once again combing the strands of wayward hair behind her ear with her fingers.

(AN: You've heard this before, I know... but this brings more light to the legend)

"My parents have bit beasts..."

"Driger and Galux, the white tiger and the mountain cat" Kamali said immediately.

"Thank you," Kirra said sarcastically, "And my uncle holds Galeon, the black lion, and Kevin and Gary, or Kiki and Gaou, own the monkey Galman and the bear Galzzy respectively."

"Those five bit beasts have been the guardians of our village and the respective tribes of our village until it was eventually united, but this was ages ago. They were eventually united during a great war, as well as another tribe that wielded a golden counterpart of the White Tiger. They were killed and the golden tiger sought comfort with its counterpart and his master, my father's ancestor. Both of them grew fond of the boy and he was able to weird them both to do his will with amazing power. The three were practically inseparable until..."

"Yes?" Kamali nodded, urging her to continue.

"This is where the irony comes into it. My father's predecessor fell in love with my mother's. Driger formed a bond with Galux and its new master and its 'brother' once again left the golden tiger, Kintora, alone, as it always felt it had been. Invaders came to the village, and it agreed to stand beside its brother's master and protect both him and his lover, aided by Galux and Driger, of course."

"At this point another thing happened..." Kirra shut her eyes and sighed for a moment and then continued to speak, opening them again, slowly, "Kintora fell in love with a human. A simple, ordinary human. Both humans and bit beasts alike, with the exception of Driger, Galux and their two masters of the time, eventually came to despise the two. But it eventually amounted to nothing, because the human that Kintora fell in love with was doused with bit beast blood in one of the battles, as he was trying to save one of the allied bit beasts, so they say. Holy Being's blood burns the skin, and if that doesn't kill the person, it's quite poisonous to humans. So eventually the human died and Kintora had lost another thing that it had truly cared for. Driger, Galux and my parents forebears tried to comfort it, but they just didn't understand the degree of what heartbreak can do to an already shattered soul..."

"Kintora ran away and was never seen again, but died. Some say of the injuries it sustained in battle, others say the losses was too much for it to cope with all at once, but either way, it was done. Driger felt disgraced by what he'd done. He felt he'd abandoned his brother... sister... whatever, when it had needed his support the most. He couldn't bear to see his counterpart simply fade out of memory and existence, so he and Galux caused their masters to conceive a child that would be reborn as Kintora. Peace had settled over the village and so there was no need for Driger and Galux to be awarded to anyone for war's sake, and after the couple and their child died, without producing any children of his own, the Holy Beings were given to the Elder of the village, which is how, all these years later, they found their way to my parents..."

Kirra sighed and looked at Kamali who was staring at her a little too calmly to make her comfortable.

"So that answers your question about how Kai is here and dead at the same time. One of the finer qualities of bit beasts is being able to evade time and space. Myself, my sister and brother, are able to travel back in time to before we were born, when we were born, currently its at the stage where we're all still kids, but are kind of getting wiser in the ways of the world- eighteen years ago. But it's different. We saved them from what we have to live through."

"That's where Trin comes in- she's staying at home to protect my parents, because that's who the bad guys are after. But they're going to be mad when they find out they're after the wrong set of parents..."

"What do you mean by that?" Kamali asked. He looked stunned but rather interested in what Kirra was saying.

"My parents are getting old, Kamali. They're almost fifty. My mother is too old to bear children."

"Where does childbirth come into this?"

"The bit beasts have been exiled from their home dimension by the people we are currently fighting against. They managed to save the source of their power, the Star, and bring it to this dimension with them, but like Kintora, it needs to be born as a human entity so as no to arouse suspicion."

Kamali paused, thinking about these facts for a moment. Then he grinned slightly and looked at Kirra out of the corner of his eye.

"It's good... almost too good. I can see why you're worried for your parents. Well... both sets of your parents, if you don't mind referring to it that way..."

"So you see, this whole war is a faux pas, to try and keep the set of parents I have who're eighteen years to my real parents' juniors safe."

"Good... no, great... well, not great that we're risking it all for a lie, but if it works out in our favour... but what exactly are you going to do when the bad guys discover they're after the wrong people?"

"We haven't got to that yet..." Kirra grinned sheepishly at Kamali who smiled and stroked Kirra's near-bare shoulder.

"I always kind of thought as bit beasts as just violence obsessed creatures, but you seem to have a certain degree of wit too."

Kirra did her best to look insulted but couldn't keep the smile off her face as Kamali dragged her haphazardly onto his lap and kissed her cheek.

"You know, I never thought of you as a dominant guy," Kirra joked, but like Hell she cared about this, she thought. No one else was there, Kamali was biting at her neck, why the Hell not?

His chest felt wonderfully warm, solid and smooth against hers and his hair was cutely mussed. 'He's not meant to look or be clean-cut. He looks better when he looks and acts imperfect.'

They leaned towards each other and kissed each other very softly, but with Kamali's hands slowly coursing Kirra's back and Kirra's fingers being lightly run over Kamali's face and chest, it didn't stay all that chaste for very long. Kirra actually felt relieved that he didn't seem to mind about the whole bit beast thing; she'd been terrified that he'd reject her, as he had probably been terrified that she would reject him the night before. But Kirra hadn't, neither had Kamali, and for that they were glad.

However, they chose a really inconvenient time to start getting comfy like they had last night. This was due to the fact that Mahalia had just arrived back at the tent, and witnessed basically everything they were doing. She stepped into the tent just as Kamali was lowering Kirra to be pinned under him, using his arms to support her back, and they stared at each other for the brief moment that it had taken to assume that position before they got back to swabbing each other's throats.

"Ahem," Mahalia coughed, causing Kirra's eyes to shoot open as she sat bolt upright, whacking her head against Kamali's as he sat up quickly and rubbed his forehead, staring at Kirra, and then following her gaze to where Mahalia stood.

"You kids are just the source of my never-ending entertainment, aren't you?"

"Err..." Kirra started, but Mahalia began to speak again, and cut her off.

"So there is truth to the rumour I heard at breakfast."

"What rumour?" Kirra asked immediately.

"The rumour involving someone apparently seeing you two at the shower block last night, screwing the Hell out of each other."

When neither Kirra nor Kamali responded to this, but let heat seep into their faces despite their best efforts to stop it, Mahalia's grin grew even wider.

"So is that a yes, the rumour is indeed fact?"

"You dare tell anyone else..." Kirra started, while Kamali continued to blush.

"I don't need to, EVERYONE else knows."

"How the Hell do they..." Kirra started, but was once again cut off by the older woman.

"Someone saw you, I assume."

"Who?"

"I dunno. Some weaselly little snot-nosed pervert, obviously."

"I'm gonna find him... and I'm gonna KILL him... or her... or whoever," Kirra snarled, tightening her grip around Kamali's neck, only actually ceasing to strangle him after he yelped because her fingernails were gauging his jugular.

"Why do that?"

"Because he started this rumour..."

"Yes, and it's just that. A rumour. Unless they drag you in for a couple of tests that involve a whole lot of gory things that you really don't wanna hear about, they can't really prove that there's any truth behind it."

"But you saw us..." Kamali murmured, finally finding his voice.

"You think I'd turn you in to the Asshole? I think not."

"Oh Mahalia..." Kirra whispered, and she jumped off the camp bed and hugged Mahalia, "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah... now get the Hell off me," she grinned to the younger pink-haired woman, who nodded and smiled in thanks anyway.

"Got caught up in the moment."

"Obviously. Now, I'll take you kids to get something to eat, on account of I think that you'd be hungry after burning all that energy the night before."

Kamali and Kirra blushed, and watched Mahalia leave the tent to give them privacy to get changed into their usual uniforms. Once they'd done that, the three friends headed up to the food tent.

"Cheat!" Artemis exclaimed triumphantly, flicking all the loose cards on the table towards Marth, who grumbled and added them to his hand. After spending almost the entire night teaching Artemis the strategy involved in the game, he and Tasha were now being flogged by the girl. She combed a caramel-black strand of hair behind her ear and grinned triumphantly at Marth and Tasha who threw each other a rather desperate looking glance. Artemis only had four cards left, while Tasha and Marth had the rest of the deck almost evenly distributed between them.

Marth eyed the four aces in his hand and plucked them out one by one and reached out to place them on the table, but was tapped on the shoulder before he had the chance.

He spun around to come face-to-face with some particularly hostile looking men who seemed to think they were the kings of the world, and looked on top of it too.

"Hey Kon, I didn't think your sister was the type to be easy."

"... Huh?" Marth blinked at the comment made by the nearest thug, his hand still hovering over the table, cards still in hand.

"Haven't you heard yet?"

"What haven't I heard?"

"Someone caught your sister and that Xao guy doing each other in the showers last night."

At this point, Marth did place his cards on the table. Or, rather he slammed his hand down so hard that a dent was left in the metal top. Artemis' eyes bugged out slightly as his fist missed the front of her face by about an inch.

"Better dob her into Mummy and Daddy, right?" guffawed one of the thugs stupidly, before all of them turned and walked away, the whole group eventually joining in the stupid guffawing.

The group of three were silent for a few moments, before Artemis slowly began to speak.

"... That was bizarre in a disturbing sort of way."

"I wouldn't put it past them though," Tasha commented, glaring back at Marth when he started glowering at her.

"My sister acts like a complete moron at times but she still has a sense of right."

"Maybe she's just turning out like your parents," Tasha hissed spitefully.

"Say that again," Marth snarled, glaring at Tasha angrily. There were many things he could put up with, but he loved his parents and hated the way people took a stab at them every chance they got. "My parents are good people, Tasha."

"You know what really frustrates me? The way you defend your sister when she treats you like shit and you don't seem to care."

"She's still my sister, for crying out loud. And I've heard enough bad things about my family for one lifetime and I'm sick of hearing people insult my parents."

The whole time this argument was going on, Tasha and Marth's voices stayed deathly silent. No one but Artemis noticed the whispered war of words going on between the two people and she felt like she was stuck in the middle.

At this point in time, Kirra, Kamali and Mahalia entered the large tent and immediately noticed Marth and Tasha glaring at each other from opposite ends of the table closest to the entrance-exit, and Artemis simply sitting in the middle, looking uncomfortable.

"Ahem," Kirra coughed, breaking her brother's concentration and causing Artemis to jump and look sharply up at her. Tasha flinched slightly- almost too slightly to be noticeable, and continued to glare at Marth, even though he was no longer glaring back.

'Obviously a very dedicated person when it comes to spite,' Kirra thought.

"Kiz, tell Tasha that the rumours aren't true, please," Marth said, getting back to glaring at Tasha, but the dark-haired woman was way ahead of him.

"Umm... rumours? What rumours?" Kirra said lamely, refusing to meet her brother's gaze.

"I can tell you know what rumours," Marth snarled.

'Curse you...' Kirra mentally snapped at her younger brother.

'Yeah, curse me. I'm starting to believe I already am though,' Marth sighed.

'Why is that?'

'I'm cursed with the inability to understand women.'

'Every man is,' Kirra's lips curved into a slight smile. She could tell Artemis, Tasha, Kamali and Mahalia were confused but she didn't care.

'Tasha and Artemis are driving me mental.'

'What are they doing?'

'Tasha is tearing strips off me and having a go at our family because of the rumours that turned out to be truth...' Marth's voice had gotten darker as the sentence progressed, '... and Artemis is sitting in the middle looking like a deer in the headlights.'

'Tasha's already demonstrated that she doesn't think too highly of me. This is the sort of thing she needed to destroy my already scarred reputation entirely. And Artemis just doesn't know who to side with, I assume.'

'Thanks, Kiz... now I want to ask you something.'

'Let me guess...'

'Why did you do it?'

Kirra sighed mentally. 'Because I love him?'

'You don't sound too sure.'

'I can assure you, I'm not.'

'You'll figure it out, I'm sure.'

'Fat chance.'

The mental connection between the two siblings was then broken and Kirra spun around and went to get her daily helping of slop. The unfortunate who had been given the job of spooning it out gave Kirra an apologetic glance and let the rancid stuff drip onto her plate.

Kirra winced but nodded and thank you, before grabbing a spoon and going back to Marth's table and sitting down. There was a large lump in the usually runny mixture but she was too hungry to care, so she decided to eat around it.

She scooped the food (if you could really refer to it as food) onto the spoon and held her nose as she downed it. Her eyes flickered back to her bowl and the lump in the mixture shuddered and moved.

"What the Hell?" she questioned, catching the attention of her younger brother. Marth watched as his sister poked around her bowl with the spoon until she finally cornered the moving lump and scooped it out to reveal possibly the largest cockroach he had ever laid eyes on.

Kirra's face paled momentarily, but her expression was immediately changed to one of disgust as she shrieked out loud and flung the spoon onto the ground, desperately trying to step on the cockroach.

Kamali suddenly stepped forward and squashed the bug, causing Kirra to lose her balance and fall over, back onto the metal bench. The colour slowly returned to her face and she took many huge breaths into her lungs.

"You alright?" Mahalia asked socially.

Kirra nodded and smiled weakly. Mahalia grinned evilly and picked up Kirra's now cockroach-less bowl. "Sure you don't want any more?"

"Positive. I'm going back to the tent..."

"Okay. See you there."

Kirra exited the tent and sighed- she definitely needed some time alone to clear her head. As she wandered through the array of tents that were half-heartedly set up on the sodden ground, she watched the people who passed her. Some looked as tired as she felt, others looked like they were trying to stop their seemingly inevitable doom with denial and laughter, and others, who had probably lost someone close to them from this whole ordeal, just looked like they had nothing to live for anymore.

One particular group caught Kirra's eye; a small group of teenage boys that were snickering amongst themselves about something or other, but the reason became blaringly clear as they noticed her and began to chortle louder. Kirra performed her trademark eye-roll and walked past them with her head held high; seeing that they all looked about fifteen years old they probably enjoyed just hearing about sex.

She continued to pass the tents of varied sizes and colours (all the colours being dark, mind you) until she reached her own. She ducked inside, and the first thing she noticed was her nephew and niece sitting on Kurai's bed, attempting to patch up their various injuries.

Kurai looked up at Kirra as she entered the tent, and grimaced when their eyes locked.

"They got us."

"Who? The enemy?" Kirra questioned. 'But the enemies wouldn't leave them alive if they caught them...'

"You're right, they wouldn't," Kurai cut in. "A couple of bigger people got us and told us that you were a slut."

Kirra froze momentarily, grinding her teeth so hard they scraped together with an uncomforting squeak.

"Kirra? What's a slut?" Lita asked, whilst wiping a dribble of silver-streaked blood from her nose.

'How do I explain this to a seven-year-old?' Kirra thought to herself, before deciding on a more gentle way of breaking it to Lita.

"It's a woman who... likes lots of men at the same time."

"You mean like you?"

A muscle in Kirra's left eyelid twitched. "No."

"But you like Kurai and Marth and Grandpa and Daddy and Kamali, don't you?"

"I meant more like loving lots of men at the same time. As in more than a friend and the men not being a part of their family." The mention of Kamali hadn't gone unnoticed. What would happen next- telegrams being sent to Trin and her parents?

"Aa... okay. I sort of get it, I suppose. Like that lady that once tried to catch onto Daddy until Mummy threatened to rearrange her face."

Kirra wasn't surprised. The words 'Kai' and 'Hiwatari' placed together were enough to drive most women into some sort of pleasure fit. But, surprisingly, Kai had actually managed to avert his gaze from the fangirls and stay with her sister. Kirra also had the feeling that if Trin had ever thought for one moment that Kai was barking up the wrong tree there would have been more rearranged than just faces.

Kirra reached for her bag, and after considerable rummaging, found a handkerchief (still unused, thanks) and wiped the slight drips and flickers of blood off her niece's face and frowned.

'I don't like the way this is going for these two, Trin.'

Her sister's presence echoed from far away and Kirra could feel her grief.

'I know that. I don't want them involved in this, Kiz.'

'You're the Boss. You can request their transfer back home, Trin.'

'They'll suspect... I need to wait for a moment when they're able to home without raising suspicion.'

'They'll either have to be pardoned, do something so incredibly bad that they're disgraced or... get so badly injured that they'll be unable to fight.'

'The second one is sounding good. Can you help them?'

'Why me? Me and Marth are in enough trouble as it is.'

'Who else is supposed to help them? Marth is definitely in trouble for going at Loch the other day but no one can prove that anything happened between you and Kamali... although something obviously did.'

Kirra sighed. 'So, exactly how many people know about that?' She could feel her sister's mirth and it was driving her crazy.

'A lot, obviously, from what I can gather from what you just said. You liked him and it was about time you did something about it. Perhaps being so forward was kind of uncalled for, but...'

'Oh, listen to you,' Kirra interrupted.

'Okay, I'll stop... but I'd wait a while to let Loch cool off before you try anything.'

'Of course.'

(Four months later)

"So... you've developed a serum strong enough to knock out a bit beast for two weeks. Very interesting..." the old man grinned. "We should test it."

The scientist's lips curved into a smile and he nodded eagerly.

"Very well... once we have completed the upgrades on our top three ranked soldiers, we will bring the Kintora here and use it to our advantage."

"Good... make sure those lower-ranked idiots do not fail me."

Kirra snarled- a thing she was becoming increasingly good at these days- as she managed to get her increasingly ratty battle uniform over her head. She then tossed it behind her, towards her now filthy knapsack, and reached for her more casual set of black 'business' clothes. Frankly a wash wouldn't have gone astray for any of her clothes, but it was rather hard to find a washing machine in the middle of nowhere. She threw her hair over her back and cursed when it began tickling the back of her knees.

"My hair is giving me the shits," she snarled to Kamali, who was sitting behind her attempting to sharpen their shared katana with a rock.

"I'd offer you the katana, but this thing couldn't cut through hot butter."

"Thank-you!" Kirra replied sarcastically.

"Anyway..." Kamali said, without taking his eyes off the blade, "It looks prettier long."

"Not when it's this long... it's just annoying."

"I'll trust your judgement," Kamali grinned up at her. Kirra glared in return, but eventually lost it and grinned back.

"You two are so cute."

Kirra jumped at the sound of Mahalia's voice, then spun around on her heel and glared at her friend, who maintained her grin.

"Do you have to be so god damned creepy all the time?"

"That's my job!" Mahalia said cheerfully. Her eyes then darted around the tent and she cocked an eyebrow.

"I was so sure Kurai was here when I left."

"He was," Kamali said, looking at Kirra reprovingly, "But Kirra sent him to get the material for 'Operation Dismissal'."

"If he gets caught doing it it'll save us half the trouble," Mahalia commented.

"He won't be," Kirra said bluntly, but with the utmost confidence in her young nephew.

"I hope you're right," Mahalia sighed, "I'd hate to see that kid get hurt again."

"What the Hell were you thinking?" Tasha snapped at Marth, who was keeping his mouth firmly shut on the aptly named, 'Operation Dismissal'.

"My nephew and niece don't belong here," he repeated slowly, as if he was trying to talk to Tasha in a foreign language. "They're not even the legal battle age."

"They're part of the Senshi, for crying out loud! And we need all the help we can get at the moment."

"You think I don't know that? This was a suicide mission anyway!" Marth finally snapped. He stood up, being about the same height as Tasha but stronger than her by far. But Tasha didn't look the least bit intimidated by Marth. "There was no way we could have won from the beginning, regardless of whether we went in with one or one million Senshi!"

"Then why did your sister send us in?" Tasha asked lightly.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

'Great job, Marth,' Kirra sarcastic comment echoed in his head.

'Why is she congratulating him? He just did something utterly idiotic and she is rewarding him?' Dranzer's questioning voice entered his mind also.

'It's called sarcasm, Polly,' Kirra snapped.

'Polly? I am not mere parrot! I am the legendary red phoenix of the south!'

'Whatever you say, Polly,' Kirra sighed, and left.

'Blasted feline...' Dranzer cursed, before also leaving.

"... And what's so crazy that I wouldn't believe it? Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Tasha snapped at Marth, who had just recently woken up from the trance-like state that speaking to his sisters and the other bit beasts put him in.

"No," he said simply, before turning to his left and ducking out of the tent. Tasha gritted her teeth out of sheer frustration before following the dark-haired man. He was heading in the direction of his sister's tent, so he was obviously going to conspire against the authorities.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped after him. "Going to conspire against the leader some more?"

"Leader?" Marth asked, without looking back at Tasha.

"Loch," she stated simply.

"He's not the leader."

"He is. He is the only one here that has authority to dismiss the soldiers."

"He lacks a lot of things, though."

"Like what?"

"Brains, looks, the respect of the Senshi..."

"What are you on about?" Tasha snickered. "Jealous?"

At this point Marth did turn around to stare Tasha straight in the eye. They were standing every close to each other and it wasn't very comforting having glaring golden eyes staring you down.

"My parents built the Senshi up from nothing, Tasha. We didn't work so hard to watch that asshole to try and take what rightfully belongs to my family." Marth's eyes flickered around momentarily, obviously checking to see if there was anyone nearby, and then pressed his lips against Tasha's.

Tasha's eyes widened and her first thought after the initial action was, "Time to struggle- you don't want this" but she then realized that he wasn't forcing her at all, and she was basically kissing him of her own free will. By the time she'd decided that she should break away, Marth had already done so and once again stared directly into her eyes.

"And I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think I truly cared for you like I do."

Marth then simply turned around and began to walk away. Tasha snapped out of her trance-like state and snarled after Marth.

"I think you're just one of those people that wants their cake and eat it too."

Marth looked over his shoulder at her and let a fanged grin cross his lips.

"As Kiz says; what good is cake if you can't eat it?"

He then took about five more steps and ducked into the tent on the left, leaving a very confused Tasha behind.

"About time," Kirra snarled as Marth ducked into the tent and sat down behind his nephew and niece who held a pair of scissors in one hand, and had their others arms adorned with about three rolls of duct tape each.

"Pay attention, kiddies. This is your first step onto becoming just like Aunty Kiz," Mahalia smiled at the two kids. Lita looked rather pleased about that but Kurai seemed rather unsure.

"Here's our plan of action, kids; we knock him out, we drag him to the shower block, YOU duct tape him to the steel bench, savvy?" Kirra asked. Both Kurai and Lita nodded, so Kirra grinned and stood up, along with Marth, Mahalia and Kamali.

"Alright. In that case, let's get this show on the road."

Loch was wandering up and down the few rows of tents that were still occupied, enjoying having total control over the troops.

'Especially those Kon and Hiwatari freaks,' he thought, guffawing stupidly but quietly as he turned into a particularly tight row of tents. It was near the centre- full of thin rows between the tents so that people on the outskirts could get to their tents.

A twig crunched behind him and he spun around, his beady eyes looking for the source of the sound. At this point, he felt a sharp pain to the back of the head, he grunted, the world went black, and he knew no more.

"Got the bugger!" Kirra cried triumphantly, looking at the katana, whose flat was still indented into the back of Loch's flabby head.

"Good shot, Kirra," Kamali smiled, and Kirra smiled and wrenched the blade out of the back of Loch's head. There was no cut, because he was hit with the flat, but there was a rather nasty purple bruise already beginning to emerge.

"Well, you know. It's one of my many areas of expertise."

"The others being what?" At this question, Kirra walked over to Kamali and whispered something in his ear. He turned bright red and Kirra laughed, and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek before walking back over to Loch and attempting to pick him up.

"Urgh! This guy could stand losing some weight... MARTH!"

Her little brother appeared from behind a nearby tent and shut his eyes for a moment, before opening them and pointing at Loch, who immediately levelled out and began to hover in the air.

"Very good, little brother. Someone's been practicing."

Marth made no response, instead concentrating on keeping Loch airborne. Kirra grinned- it must've been some task.

"Let's go before anyone catches us."

"Or before my mind gives out," Marth growled through gritted teeth. "You weren't wrong about this guy needing to lose a few kilos."

Lita and Kurai sat in the shower block nervously, waiting for their aunt, uncle and friends to appear with Loch so they could duct-tape him to all Hell. Kurai breathed out a sigh of relief as he heard his uncle complaining about Loch's weight and he jumped off the bench and stood out-of-way. Lita followed her brother's lead, and she was glad she had, because at this point, Loch thundered onto the bench, almost knocking the whole thing over.

Kirra strode in and grinned at Kurai and Lita, who grinned back.

"We've done our part, now it's up to you, kids. Can you manage it?"

"Of course," Kurai grinned maliciously at Loch.

"I'll leave it to you, in that case. Good luck, kids."

(Two hours later)

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, YOU LITTLE..." Loch thundered and Kurai and Lita, who stood frozen to the spot in front of him, listening to him ramble about how their behaviour was shocking.

"Both of you are dismissed! I never want to lay eyes on you again! And your aunt and uncle can enjoy triple battle shift..."

"Why are you punishing them for what we did!" Kurai suddenly spoke up, looking utterly furious. "They did nothing!"

"It's obvious you didn't organise this by yourselves. And who else would help people like you?"

Kurai glared at Loch with pure scorn and he gritted his teeth.

"There's a truck waiting for you outside. It's ready to take you back to the base, so what are you waiting for? Enjoy your imprisonment."

Lita sniffled but held her head high as she walked out of the tent, and Kurai followed her, making sure that if Loch was going to make any comments, he would be on the receiving end instead of his sister.

He didn't, so Kurai simply followed his sister out to the truck and got in, sitting in a familiar stance that he'd obviously inherited; eyes closed, arms folded across his chest, looking like he was meditating rather than trying to rest.

"It'll be a while before we get home, Lita. You'd better rest."

Lita nodded and curled up into a ball on the steel floor of the truck. And so, the Hiwatari twins began to make their way home, away from the battles, wars and fights they should never have been part of. However, what they will find out when they get there will shock them...

(Note)

Squadron A,

Due to recent infractions of the rules set down by Captain Trent Loch, you will be punished with triple shift, effective immediately...

(End what you need to hear of the note)

"Triple shift!" Kirra shrieked at the note Kamali shoved into her hand. She scrunched the rectangular white card in her fist and gritted her teeth angrily.

"How dare he? I'll kill him!" she snapped, getting up and clenching her fists by her side, her fingernails were digging into her palms and drawing blood.

"No need to get upset, Kiz," Kamali commented, pausing to yawn mid-sentence. "Triple shift just means it's three times more likely that we'll die."

"That's exactly my point- exactly!" Kirra laughed hysterically.

"No point in sitting around," Mahalia stood up and stretched. "We'd better get going otherwise he'll be out looking for us."

Kirra scowled and narrowed her already paper-thin pupils. Her expression said revenge and Kamali didn't like it. She was in enough trouble as it was and he didn't want her to be dismissed. He loved her, but it was her irrational thinking and vengeful nature that had actually made her worth talking about in the lower ranks. There were also the rumours about exactly how far her family's power stretched- rumours that had turned out to be truth.

"Kirra... I don't want you to get in trouble."

"I won't," Kirra replied irritably.

"I don't think you believe what's coming out of your own mouth."

Kirra didn't reply, but left the tent ahead of both Kamali and Mahalia, who simply looked at each other.

"What's wrong with her?" Mahalia questioned. Kamali shrugged.

"Believe me, if I knew I'd tell you."

Marth was poised for battle, katana suspended over his head, ready for the next attack. Suddenly, the fight seemed so much harder, with the lack of resources and units, and with the ever-increasing numbers of the enemy things certainly weren't looking good. He could feel people watching him; the lone figure of hope in a crown of beaten people who had lost the last of their optimism.

He knew many people were watching him: the enemies (for some reason they seemed intent on attacking him these days), his comrades, and Tasha. She was wondering, just as he was, what had caused him to have the sudden change of heart towards him.

Nearby, one of the enemies hissed in delight at the syringe that was now embedded into its metallic arm. It's commands echoed in its head; the only thing it could hear and comprehend.

'Find one of the three Kintora spirits and capture it. There's only enough serum for one, so you'll have to go back for the other two...'

It stuck its purple, forked tongue over its yellowed, rotten teeth and hissed, delighted at being given the chance to serve its master in such a way. It could sense their presence... the younger two were so close... but the eldest was miles away... it would have to wait for an opportunity to come up...

"Go," it hissed to its fellow low-ranked soldiers. "Go and get the youngest one." They nodded delightfully and ran down the hill they were perched on, ready to search for Kintora, and defeat it.

Yet another enemy took a swipe at Marth and he dodged swiftly, and kicked it in the stomach. It spat out a black, oily substance ('Some sort of blood?' Marth thought) and fell to the ground, utterly defeated. The other Senshi simply stood on and watched as Marth single-handedly brought all enemies that faced him down. He was red in the face and sweat covered his forehead, but he continued to attack, driven by the tiger's spirit and love of carnage.

However, he didn't expect a whole new battalion to suddenly appear from over a nearby hill. Marth grimaced but readied himself for battle, gripping the hilt of his katana so hard his knuckles turned white. Tasha looked on, wondering why no one was helping him. She looked at the man next to her, who was watching on with a sick look of delight on his face.

"Why won't anyone help him?" Tasha whispered hurriedly.

"He's a traitor to the Captain. He must be left to fight by himself."

"That's insane! He'll be killed!"

The man's smile grew wider. "That's the idea."

Tasha's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as she watched her squadron leader gradually exhausting his energy and losing focus. He was suddenly swiped from the side and three large gashes appeared on his arm, just below the tattoo that marked his family group. Silver-coloured blood splattered to the ground and the small stones it landed on immediately began to disintegrate. Tasha's eyes locked on the place where his blood had been spilt and her mouth dropped open. What exactly was Martheo Kon?

"Damn it! I can't sit here and watch!"

Tasha shot around to look at Artemis who was glaring out at Marth with tears budding in her eyes. "I refuse to watch my friend die."

Artemis dashed through the crowd and out to Marth, and immediately began to attack the surrounding units that were blocking her view of Marth.

"Traitor! You will also be punished!" someone in the crowd shouted and then the whole rabble of Senshi began throwing insults at them.

"What do you know? Two in one day!" the man next to Tasha commented. Tasha shut her eyes, trying to shut out their jeers and Marth and Artemis' cries of pain. Eventually, she opened her eyes again and stared determinedly out at them.

"Make that three."

"What?" he questioned, but Tasha didn't hear him because she had already swiftly ducked through the mass of onlookers and began to attack the various enemy units.

She could hear the throng of people begin to shout again, but she ignored them as she dealt a swift punch to the enemy in front of her and stumbled, clutching at its emotionless face.

Tasha suddenly felt someone brush past her in a blur of pink and she let herself take a quick look, only to see Kirra swinging the now sharp Squadron A community katana above her head.

"Didn't think you'd be out here," Kirra commented, brushing a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"Didn't think you were fond enough of your brother to save his life."

"Call it a hobby."

The crowd once again started yelling and Mahalia turned around and gave them the one-fingered salute.

"Shut up! We were gonna be out here anyway!"

Kamali had made his way through the fray and had managed to pull Artemis out of the group of attacking enemies. She had cuts all over her face and her right arm was clearly broken, bent at such an abnormal angle that Kirra had to turn away.

"What about Marth?" Tasha called out. Kirra's face had gone very white, but she shook her head regardless. She lunged forward in an attempt to save he brother swatting away enemies as if she was waving away insects.

"Marth! Where are you!" Kirra shouted to her brother, but all she could here were the ear-splitting hisses and screeches from the enemy.

She saw a dash of reflective red and ran towards it, swatting away all in her path. One of them was standing over her little brother, who was convulsing violently, and injecting some sort of clear liquid into his arm.

Kirra cried out and ran towards him, but was knocked down before she had the chance to reach him. A blow to her stomach sent her to her knees and she gasped, completely winded by the assault.

The injector finished his job and tossed her lifeless brother to some waiting units, who smiled gleefully and began to slowly move away...

"Damn it!" Kirra snapped, coughing violently as she got to her feet. She suddenly felt slimy, cold steel against her face and she looked up to see the youma that had got Marth breathing into her face.

"We'll be back for you. Until then, everyone you care for is in danger." It then threw her haphazardly to the ground and moved off. Gradually, the enemies disbanded and she was left, lying alone in the middle of the battleground.

"Kirra!"

Kirra looked around at the sound of Kamali's voice and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground just in front of her weakly.

"What happened? What the Hell was that all about?" he questioned hurriedly, gently picking her up and putting her back on her feet while still holding her close.

Kirra felt ashamed to feel the stinging heat of tears bud in the corner of her eyes, and she said the only thing that she could manage, and the only thing that mattered.

"They got Marth..."

"Are you sure about this?" Trinity eyed her younger parents, who nodded and stared at their 'grandchildren'.

"Of course. We owe you more than this," Ray replied.

Trinity breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged both her children.

"Please behave? I'll be back for you once it's safe for you to come back."

"When will that be?" Lita sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"... I don't know."

"..." Lita didn't say anything, just sniffled some more. Kurai didn't say anything either, but his face paled from its usually pale shade to a sort of murky white.

"I'll be back soon, okay?" Trinity said, completely unsure of whether she was lying or telling the truth. She then turned to her mother and looked her straight in the eye.

"I hate to do this to you, seeing that you're already hiding something, but please make sure that they stay safe, to the best of your knowledge."

Mariah looked uncomfortable as Ray stared at her and kept her eyes directly locked on Trinity, and nodded, refusing to meet Ray's eyes.

At this point, Trinity turned and left, and, despite her grief for having to leave her children, a small smile graced her lips.

'So Dad doesn't know... I know you're scared to tell him Mum. I was scared too... but at least you'd done it before..." Trinity shut her eyes and stopped in her place. "And you have no idea how much that child will mean to the Bit Beasts..."

Nice long chapter.


	10. A Single Tear

This chapter is late due to a little bit of virus trouble... no matter. It's back and hopefully better than before!

(Mariah's POV, the present)

At this point, I could have killed my daughter for having telekinetic power extending only to immediate family. Ray was staring at me like a deer in the headlights and I was surprised that he hadn't started questioning what Trinity had been talking about.

I was doing my best to keep my fourth pregnancy a secret, a secret that I obviously couldn't keep forever but heck, I was willing to agree that I was getting fat if it ever came down to that. Ray had made it pretty clear that three extra mouths to feed were enough; perhaps I was afraid that he was going to feel that I'd let him down...

So that was now... seven people that knew. Lee, because he was my brother and I doubted he'd tell Ray over his dead body, Emily, because she was the doctor, Max, because Emily was a good person but she didn't know when to shut up, Trinity, and the three kids, who undoubtedly had found out through each other or reading my mind or whatever they did.

Ray was still staring at me stupidly, as though he was expecting the answers to the riddles to jump out and bite him on the ass. Sheesh... for being pregnant, I was in a particularly foul mood. All the doctors reckon women are _happy_ when...

"Mari..." Ray started, in his warning tone, cutting through my thoughts.

"Yes, Ray?" I replied, a little quickly but succeeding in sounding very clueless and unconcerned.

"What did Trinity mean?"

I felt other people staring at me besides Ray and looked downward to see Kurai and Lita staring up at me with some sort of bemused wonderment.

'Yeah... everyone look at the woman who's fallen victim to an immaculate conception.'

"What was Trinity talking about?"

"I don't know what you mean, Ray." It was as though I was reading from a script: tilt head to the side slightly, look concerned.

"She looked directly at you and said you were keeping a secret," Ray said, almost sarcastically, but then he frowned to show he was serious. "You know there have never been any secrets between us."

Of course I knew that. If it was any different I wouldn't feel so guilty about not telling him about exactly what was wrong.

"I know that."

"Well, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Like I said, I don't know what she was talking about."

Ray opened his mouth to speak again, but shut it when I gave him the look- aah, the almighty Look. It was halfway between 'why are you mad at me' and 'I thought you loved me'.

"If you need to talk, you know you always have me," he said finally, before getting up and leaving the room. He poked his head back around the door momentarily and grinned. "Don't forget that Gary and Kevin should be arriving soon."

Phew- I was off the hook for a little while longer. I don't know how it's going to last, however...

(The future)

...A sudden rush of blood to the head... vision blurred... voices in the background... clean kind of smell... reflective surroundings...-

'What the Hell? Where am I?'

_-Get out of here!-_

'What if it's dangerous?'

_-GO! NOW!-_

Marth snarled and lashed out at whatever was surrounding him, leaving six large scratches in the otherwise immaculate metal on the floor of the cell where he was being kept, and immediately felt weak after the usual burst of power that came when Kintora decided to make its move. Immediately afterwards, Marth felt exhaustion take him and he fell backwards, onto his back and panted lightly, trying to move but he was unable to for some reason...

He could sense different life forms all around him; some primitive one (probably some sorts of lab animals), to genetically modified humans or creatures, to some that weren't human at all...

He sighed and shut his eyes; he could feel them prying into his mind...

'You can hear me, can't you?'

'Very good, Kintora. Then again, I really shouldn't be calling you that. After all, you alone are not Kintora...'

'Cut the crap,' Marth hissed. There were a few things he couldn't stand and one was the horrible, mocking tone whoever-it-was was using; like they were talking to a small child or an animal... 'Why did you come after me? My sisters are older and therefore far beyond my own level of strength.'

'Who says that we didn't make a multiple choice?' the voice replied, and Marth felt cold sweat slide uncomfortably down his back. 'We _were_ only going to take you and one of your sisters, but by taking all three of you it's safer for us, don't you think?'

'Why do you need one of each gender?'

'To... experiment... so we can find out which side of your family you inherit the Kintora powers from.'

'You idiot!' Marth snorted. 'We get our Kintora traits from both our parents. If either of my parents had children by other people, they would be normal. As would any children we mothered or fathered.'

_But is that true?_

The niggling, obvious little question that had been haunting the back of Marth's mind ever since Kurai and Lita were born resurfaced. There was no denying that his sister's two children were special... but their father had not relation whatsoever to any of the Holy Beings, except for possessing the Red Phoenix... They were not a bit-beast combined like he and his sisters were, but they radiated Holy Being energy and they could talk to him and Kirra through telepathy, just like he and his sisters could.

'Finally figured it out, huh?' the mocking voice returned. 'The Kintora gene isn't recessive. None of the other Kintora-hybrids like yourselves had children, so how could you really be so sure?'

'What... how can you hear that?' Marth asked uncertainly. Even he could keep his thoughts from his sisters if he really wanted to, so how could these guys hear them?

'We're monitoring your brainwaves, you fool. I should be thanking you, because the way you and your sister communicate gave me the idea for this particular machine. But your niece and nephew can also communicate with you in that way... not as unique as you thought you were, are you?'

'Leave Kurai and Lita out of this,' Marth snarled in reply. It was a completely empty threat, but it made him feel slightly more confident in himself.

'If all goes to plan, all we'll need is their mother.'

'You won't be able to hold Trin the way you're holding me. In fact, I doubt you'll hold me here for much longer anyway. That injection you gave me... it was strong, it used too much of its power first up. I doubt it will last much longer.'

As if on key, a girl (yes, a human girl) walked through the sliding door of Marth's cell. She was about eighteen years of age, with dirty blonde hair and dull brown eyes. It was easy to see that she was being controlled by whomever it was that had been talking to him, as she had a large syringe filled with clear liquid in her right hand. She held it up to the light and flicked it, squirting a miniscule portion of the serum out of the hypodermic to rid the liquid of air bubbles. She then walked over to Marth and hoisted his upper body onto her lap, yanking up the tattered sleeve of his Senshi battle uniform and jabbing the syringe swiftly into his arm and emptying it in about ten seconds flat, which was mildly disturbing in itself, as the needle looked like it was designed for particularly large elephants and not humans. Marth's entire body was still numb from the previous injection, so he didn't feel the needle pierce through his skin.

The girl placed him back onto the floor and hurriedly left the room, tucking the hypodermic back into her pocket as she went. If it was possible

'We have more than enough of the fluid we just gave you for you and your sisters. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do than be discussing things that are none of your business with you.'

Marth didn't reply; he knew it was pointless. They wouldn't be listening anymore; so he couldn't wheedle any more information out of them... not that it would be any good anyway... he was too weak to make contact with his sisters. However, this did present quite an opportunity... but which Holy Being would he waste it on?

He shut his eyes and concentrated, already feeling what little energy he had left in him ebbing away... _just whoever was closest..._

_'I can hear you, Kintora.'_

Keturah...?

'We all assumed that you would have perished.'

'So did I,' Marth admitted to the reptilian bit beast. 'Is everyone alright?'

_'Tasha is fine, if that is what you mean,' _the dragon replied smugly, but her voice had a tone that made it sound like she wanted to add, 'Physically, but perhaps not mentally' at the end of the sentence.

'... That's good,' Marth replied awkwardly and slightly belatedly, 'What about my sister and her squadron?'

'To my knowledge, they are fine for now, at least.'

'At least now I have a clear conscience... I don't want any of them to get hurt for my sake.'

_'Even if I told them that, I highly doubt that they would listen,' _the black dragon replied sceptically.

'Either way, thank you Keturah.'

_'Good luck, Kintora,' _she replied, worry crossing her usually calm voice. _'She will come for you soon...'_

'Who...?' Marth started, but the black dragon had already gone. Marth once again felt exhaustion sweep over him and he shut his eyes, trying to recuperate. But it was a long time before he fell into a fitful slumber.

Kirra kicked the last tent peg out of the ground, towards Kamali who was swiftly packing the entire thing up, and hoisted her now light knapsack onto her aching back. Loch watched on, with the biggest, stupidest smirk Kirra had ever seen in her life plastered across his face. He looked like an obese from that had just devoured the giant cockroach she had found in her 'food' just the day before. Kirra was extremely peevish (being around Loch just made it come naturally to her, combined with being kicked out of her _own family's _profession) but her rage was no-where near the level of Tasha' malice. The younger woman's eye blue eyes flashed with an anger Kirra had never seen before, her muscles were tensed and her jaw occasionally slipped to the side when she made a slightly more obvious grit of her teeth.

The four now-dismissed Senshi finished packing and looked towards the barren lands to the west of where they stood. Kurai and Lita had simply done something unruly, so they had been dismissed back to the base. Artemis had been badly injured, so they couldn't send her out into the middle of nowhere; she had also been sent back to the HQ. No such luck for 'traitors' such as them.

Mahalia was the first to start moving. She stormed forward without looking back, but made sure to jam two particular fingers back, in Loch's general direction. He snorted in a very pig-like way, but otherwise made no response.

Kamali started after Mahalia, gripping Kirra's hand and pulling her along with him, as she had just opened her mouth and started saying something to the effect of "You fat fu-" to Loch. She let Kamali lead her away but she continued to glare over her shoulder at Loch until she could no longer see him.

Tasha stayed behind, waiting until the others were out of sight until she picked up the bag with her tent in it with two hands and slung her backpack haphazardly over her right shoulder. She was still facing Loch, glaring at him furiously.

"I was loyal to the Senshi."

"That loyalty became void when you chose to help Martheo Kon."

"I don't see why I should be punished for one... error in judgement. Other than that, I was loyal," Tasha reprimanded herself for taking so long to think of an excuse. She couldn't have just stood there and watched Marth get killed, no matter how annoying she had found him at times.

"Loyalty means nothing out here!" Loch snarled.

"That's obvious," Tasha replied hotly, before spinning around on her heel and stalking after the ex-Squadron A.

"Well, I suppose the first thing to do is find a place to peg this tent again," Mahalia said, brushing at a particularly determined fly, that kept buzzing circles around her head. Kamali nodded without looking back but Kirra didn't respond, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. She was in one of those incurably shitty moods that she got herself into regularly, and there was no point in trying to get through to her until she calmed down (although Kamali regularly tried to calm her down, it was really an uphill battle).

Kamali's eyes caught Mahalia's, and both pairs of eyes were immediately rolled in the direction of the heavens.

"I say we make the most of this," Mahalia said, purposefully raising the volume of her voice, "At least we're all together. We should look on the bright side."

"What_bright side _is there to look on?" Kirra asked.

"That's actually a fair question," Kamali commented, but Kirra ignored him.

"We're stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with enough rations between us to last for a week, and no friends or help! What's the point?"

"You know very well you could just leave Kamali and me to die, so what's stopping you?" Mahalia asked, and Kirra halted. Mahalia knew that she'd centred in on the very topic Kirra obviously didn't want to discuss. Mahalia thought that Kirra would barely think twice if it were only the two of them, but knew for a fact that she wouldn't leave Kamali behind. The reason? They were too close. Or perhaps the sex was just too good to pass up. Either way, she wouldn't leave him behind to die, let alone Mahalia herself; one would have to duffer through a serious case of the guilts if they wanted to do that.

They continued to walk in an uncomfortable silence for a while until the land started to elevate to match the temperature; semi-large rocks and small cliffs and inclines surrounded them. Kamali noticed a particularly sheltered looking place and stopped. Kirra and Mahalia followed his lead and looked in the direction he was looking in.

"Looks like a good place... sheltered from the elements a fair bit, reasonably concealed..." Kamali muttered to himself.

'The pet Golden Retriever has taken over household management,' Kirra noted mentally, a small smile crossing her lips.

Kamali strode towards said area, and dumped the tent on the ground, unzipped the bag and began the daunting task of reassembling the structure.

Mahalia flopped lazily down on the nearest flat rock, and noticed the younger, pink-haired woman gazing after her lover and her face cracked into a grin.

"The way you're looking at him, I can tell you're thinking something dirty."

"I was actually just wondering if he needed any help," Kirra replied lightly, but it was a transparent excuse.

"Leave him. Men just love having a project to work on. Keeps 'em entertained."

"If you say so."

"Speaking of love, what about you and Kamali?"

"Please don't say the 'L' word."

"And why not?" Mahalia inclined an eyebrow and Kirra spun around to face her.

"Because from my past experiences, once you say the 'L' word, men think you're theirs to do with what they want."

"You mean, when you were with Kamali, it wasn't the first time you'd slept with someone?"

"Of course not," Kirra retorted irritably.

"Who, then?"

Kirra didn't reply.

"Hello?"

"Don't make me answer that," Kirra replied, a low tone in her voice.

"What? Bad experience?"

"You could say that. For one thing, I was off my face. Secondly, it was because of a lost bet. And thirdly, the phrase 'bad experience' doesn't even come close to what happened. It was worse."

"You were off your face the first time you kissed Kamali," Mahalia commented, while something in her mind clicked about how repulsive the loss-of-virginity occasion had been for Kirra.

"What? How did you... damn it," Kirra said finally, glaring at her friend, who simply blinked innocently in defence.

"So you were drunk..." Mahalia said, trying to avert Kirra's anger from herself, whilst thinking, 'no wonder she has such a hard time opening up to people'.

"Do you really need to know this?"

"Just the name really, but gory details won't go astray."

Kirra shook her head. "If Kamali found out, I'd never forgive myself. I doubt that you and Kamali could ever look at me the same, either."

"You have my complete confidentiality and support," Mahalia nodded and folded her arms across her chest stubbornly.

"You're not going to give up until I tell you, are you?" Kirra cocked her head to one side and surveyed the dark-haired woman.

Mahalia grinned, "Nope."

Kirra sighed and averted her gaze from Mahalia and stared fixedly at the ground.

"... It was Loch..."

"**_WHAT!_**" Mahalia exclaimed, falling backwards off the rock she was sitting on at the same time.

"I told you," Kirra accused.

"Okay, you've made some pretty stupid decisions in your life, Kirra, that's pretty obvious, but..."

"That was the stupidest?" Kirra completed the sentence for the older woman.

"How'd you guess?" Mahalia asked sarcastically.

"It's exactly what my sister said when I told her. And just who said it was a decision, perse?"

"Oh..." Mahalia murmured, pulling a dead twig out of her hair and brushing the dust from her already filthy clothes.

"The next day it was like I was transparent and he could see right through me."

"That's generally how it goes. My ex-husband saw right through me and saw our marriage councillor on the other side."

"Now _that _sucks," Kirra commented; she didn't want pity- she despised it. Possibly the only thing she hated more than pity was Loch.

"Kirra, I can assure you, I pity you more than anyone else I ever knew, but at the same time I envy you."

"And why is that? I can assure you, Loch has the sexual abilities of a deflated balloon," Kirra snorted. That was the way she did it: playing it tough.

"I envy you because you have Kamali. Whether you think so or not, that kid worships the ground you walk on and loves you more than anyone else. And whether you choose to love him back is once again your decision, although I'd recommend it. You both need each other now more so than ever. And I'm petty sure even an innocent kid like that could beat Loch in the category of sexual ability."

"You're not wrong..." Kirra murmured, her eyes glazing over slightly before she realized what she was doing and snapped out of her thought to find Mahalia grinning at her.

"So you see? Forget about that stupid prick Loch and focus on the present and Kamali."

"Yeah... I think I'm in love with Kamali. I think. I just don't know how to say it or show it, I suppose."

"You'll figure it out, I'm sure," Mahalia smiled.

"Marth told me that too... and I'll do my best to figure it out for my own sake. I'll be able to concentrate on helping him if I get these other matters out of my mind first," Kirra frowned determinedly and clenched her fists slightly.

"That's the spirit!" Mahalia commented, sitting back down on the rock, yawning and stretching.

"Thank you, Mahalia," Kirra said; "I doubt I could have seen through my own stupid self-pity if you hadn't helped."

"No probs," Mahalia grinned. "Mahalia Zeona, resident shrink."

The two women smiled at each other, and Kamali called out to them; "Hey! I could use a little help, if it isn't too much trouble..."

**_"MAO-CHAN!"_**

****

Mariah let out a short, soft grunt, as Kevin slammed into her stomach in an overdone hug. Ray tensed but said nothing as he watched his green-haired friend nuzzled into his wife's chest in an ecstatic embrace. Gary also stepped into the entrance of Ray and Mariah's house, surveying his surroundings before he gave Ray a pat on the back, which almost knocked the dark-haired man over. Lee watched on, clenching his jaw tightly as he watched his short friend getting a cheap fondle out of his sister, although he doubted that Kevin even knew what he was doing. He also doubted that Kevin was aware of the fact that Ray was most likely mentally skinning him with a blunt penknife.

Eventually, Ray's natural instincts of protection and jealousy got the better of him and he managed to pry Kevin off Mariah and say hello to him. Mariah and Gary exchanged hugs and friendly words and Kevin and Gary advanced on their ex-team leader shortly afterwards and had the usual exchange of polite words between old friends.

"Now that we're all here, we should go into the lounge room," Ray decided, turning on his heel and leading the way. Gary followed, but Mariah, Lee and Kevin lagged behind.

"Hey Mao, have you put on weight?" Kevin asked in a voice that seemed too loud for he situation, blinking his one visible eye innocently the whole time. Aside from being extremely rude, it was shying on a topic that Mariah didn't want to discuss, especially with Ray and Gary around to hear it.

"Shut up, you idiot," Lee snarled, voicing was Mariah was thinking.

Kevin frowned and thought about it for a moment, and then opened his eye(s) wide in realisation.

"Are you pre-"

"Sow-sen!" Mariah hissed at Kevin who snorted indignantly and turned away.

"Tsao ni zuzong shiba dai..." Kevin muttered under his breath.

"What?" Mariah questioned. Her voice had fallen to a deadly, low decibel.

"Nothing..." Kevin replied. But, judging from Lee and Mariah reactions, he knew his assumption was right...

(AN: Must clarify: Lee and Mariah were speaking Cantonese and Kevin retorted to Mariah in Mandarin.)

Tasha continued through the barren land, gripping the heavy tent bag with one hand and her beyblade with the other. The bit chip shone comfortingly as she looked down upon her 'blade, signalling she still had her bit beast's support, at least. For the very first time, she craved to have Marth or Artemis near her; she showed no physical signs of her loneliness, but felt her chest hollow as she remembered the sickening snap as Artemis' arm broke and Marth being engulfed by darkness as they captured him...

Tasha shook her head to clear her mind of such thoughts, right now she needed to focus on the present and find the ex-Squadron A members so she had at least a little bit of backup in case of attack, aside from Keturah.

'Keturah, how far are Squadron A?'

'_Not far, Tasha. You should reach the place in approximately five minutes, if you continue to move at your current pace.'_

'Thank you, Keturah.'

_'My pleasure,' _the black dragon responded heartily, causing Tasha to crack a small grin.

The dark-haired girl continued on, slower now- she had almost been running before. But, to her shock, the sun quickly sunk low in the sky, half-disappeared behind the horizon, dyeing the sky a brilliant purple colour, the same royal purple that her bit chip glowed every time she needed Keturah's guidance. She began to feel slight panic creeping up on her; it was very dangerous to be out at night with all of the scouts and spies of the enemy out, looking for that one opportunity...

'Be calm, Tasha. I can see the light from the lamp in their tent.'

Tasha squinted into the distance, not having such sharp eyesight as the dragon, but eventually seeing a pinprick of light in the distance. Sure enough, the bit beast was correct. She could now see the outline of the tent in the thin, pale moonlight that was giving the surrounding area a haunting, eerie glow.

As she approached, Kirra stepped out of the tent and surveyed her, as she got closer, but made no attempt to help her whatsoever. Tasha was glad for this fact; if Kirra had attempted to help she probably would have rejected her anyway.

"Decided to join us, eh?" Kirra asked as Tasha walked past her without looking at her. Tasha decided not to dignify that question with an answer. Kirra shrugged a 'be that way' shrug but watched with slight amusement as Tasha stared blankly at the tent she had just pulled roughly out of its carry-case. Kirra raised one arm and fisted her hand swiftly and Tasha subconsciously tensed. Kirra then hit the tent directly behind her.

"Kamali!" she snapped.

A slightly grunt and the sound of someone rolling over on an extremely squeaky camp bed were the only replies she got.

"C'mon!" she half-shouted irritably, whacking Kamali again and this time she got a proper response.

"Argh! What the Hell...?"

"Come out and help me, please."

"What with...?"

"Tasha just arrived and she's clueless as to how to set up a tent."

After a few moments, the front of the tent unzipped itself once again and Kamali stepped out, rubbing his bleary eyes and attempting to stifle a yawn. His shirt was on backwards so Tasha assumed he'd pulled it on rather hurriedly.

Kirra smiled, without any hint of a smirk, and gestured to the tent. Kamali scowled.

"I live to serve you, mistress."

"Don't forget it," Kirra replied. She was smirking now.

Tasha lay back in her newly formed tent, completely alone... aside from the large dark violet dragon, whose tail was sticking out of the tent entrance, and flicking lightly against the side of the tent.

'You're lonely, Tasha.'

'I am not lonely, Keturah,' Tasha replied hotly. She was getting rather tired of the bit beast's mollycoddling, although she knew the dragon meant well.

'You miss the company of your Squadron. Over the last four months you have grown used to their companionship.'

'I **do not **miss the company of the squadron.'

'_Fine, I shall be more specific; you miss Marth.'_

'Fine, I shall be more specific; you miss Marth.'

Marth was swiftly awoken from his fitful slumber at the rich, rippling sound of the black dragon's voice. He automatically tried to sit up but of course couldn't manage, having no control over his numb limbs. Tasha didn't reply, and Marth felt Keturah's smugness. She was obviously very pleased with herself.

'It seems I have touched a nerve, Tasha.'

'What are you talking about, Keturah?'

'It's rather obvious. Don't forget that our minds are one in the same.'

'... alright, I admire his courage. Nothing more.'

_'You admire his body...' _Keturah replied heartily, and Marth choked on the air he was breathing. _'And the way he kisses...' _the reptilian bit beast added, and Marth felt his face flush to a colour that was roughly equivalent to the colour of his mother's hair.

'Keturah...' Tasha said in a slightly embarrassed tone of voice.

'I do believe I am right, Tasha.'

'You're not wrong... look at it that way, rather than you being right.'

_'I am sure...' _Keturah retorted, with slight sarcasm.

'I'm tired now, Keturah,' Tasha said abruptly, obviously looking for an excuse for not answering the dragon's persistent but subtle questions.

_'If you say so... goodnight, Tasha.'_

The dragon received no reply from her dark-haired mistress. Marth was in emotional turmoil. He'd been having trouble sleeping before, but Hell, he'd NEVER get to sleep now!

(Three hours later)

**The snap of a twig, and the sound of someone brushing past the tent...**

Kamali sat bolt upright, causing Kirra's head to slide off his chest and land lightly in his lap. Kamali was able to ignore this for the moment, because he was rather used to Kirra's head resting on his lap (or, rather, it wasn't the first time she'd been face-down in his crotch).

He heard another sound and saw a shadow rushing past the side of the tent, illuminated by the moonlight.

Mahalia sat up and looked to where the shadow had disappeared.

"What was that?" she whispered to Kamali, who shook his head.

"We should go and look."

"Uh-huh," Mahalia said, smiling, "But first you'd better get Kirra out of that unfortunate position."

Kamali showed no sign of embarrassment as he lifted Kirra up onto the pillow he'd been lying on.

"Come on," he whispered, flicking himself off the bed with as much grace as someone of his stature could muster, and followed Mahalia out into the pitch-blackness that now surrounded them, due to the moon being shrouded by a cloud.

The two ex-Senshi slunk out into the night, showing the stealth skills that at least Mahalia had picked up; it wasn't exactly easy to hide someone who was six foot tall and looked about a metre wide. 'But, Mahalia supposed, he could probably beat off any attacker with brute strength.'

The creature slunk up behind the two humans, its large ears pinned to its head, long gleaming white fangs beared.

At this point, it unintentionally stood on another twig.

Kamali and Mahalia spun around to face the sound.

And screamed.

Kirra's eyes shot open as she heard her friends' screams. She ripped the top sheet off the bed and wrapped it around her otherwise bear skin, having no clean things to wear at night in her possession, and dashed outside of the tent... and running headlong into Kamali's back.

"Ouch!" she snapped, but Kamali reached back and grabbed her hand to silence her. Both his and Mahalia's eyes were locked on the peculiar creature that sat before them, but neither dared to move. The creature's ears were still pinned to its head and its tail flicked irritably. It looked human, but no. It couldn't be... could it?

Kirra broke free from Kamali's grip and ran around him to get a look at what both he and Mahalia were staring at.

Her eyes widened when she saw what, or rather, _who_, it was.

That's...

"Mysticisia?"

The human/bit beast sat back in a feline sitting position and surveyed Kirra with overly large eyes.

"Aah! Kintora, I am glad to see you. These human eyes do not provide such good vision as my own..."

"I know..." Kirra murmured, before turning her attention back to the bit beast. "Why are you here?"

"My master is gone, so I come to his next-of-kin," the tiger responded.

"Are the others with you?" Kirra continued to interrogate her brother's bit beast.

"My youngest female litter-mate is here... Mystellara is not here."

"I didn't think she would be."

"I think she has gone back to your sister. No doubt she feels that Trinity needs her now more than ever."

"I don't doubt that. My sister... does not have many lines of defence back at home."

"She would protect your parents to the death," Mysticisia commented, a slight purr erupting from his throat as he pronounced the 'r' in 'protective'. It sounded like some sort of bizarre, poorly done French accent. "And I don't think that is an especially wise choice."

"Would you protect Driger and Galux if they were in danger?" Kirra questioned, starting to lose her temper with the Mystic's calm, deep voice and relaxed nature.

"I have little to do with my parents," the tiger responded, flicking his rosette-dotted tail once, in slight annoyance.

"I _know _that," Kirra retorted, becoming extremely frustrated, "But would you allow yourself to simply watch on as they were torn apart for the threat they _supposedly _impose on the enemy?"

"I would have to say no," Cisia said.

"Then do not criticize my sister's choices."

"As you wish, Kintora."

"Go and patrol or go catch a rat to eat or something," Kirra flicked the tips of her fingers on her right hand at the bit beast and used her left hand to prevent the sheet she had wrapped around her from falling down.

"I am no common house cat," Mysticisia responded, but began to move off anyway, moving awkwardly in him 'human on all fours' way. But before he left entirely, he turned around to face Kirra and pulled his darkish lips back over his pure white fangs in a strange-looking grin.

"I know you humans prefer to hang all sorts of cloth off yourselves, but I have never seen anything quite like that."

"Just go," Kirra sighed. "Go and stand watch."

"As you wish," Mysticisia responded, springing forward and dashing off swiftly into the night.

(Two hours later)

Mahalia awoke slowly to a slight grunting sound outside of the tent. Her immediate thought was, "That darn bit beast is back!" so she decided to investigate, naturally. The idiotic animal didn't know when to stop!

She slipped out of the tent stealthily, glad that she didn't even stir Kamali or Kirra. Technically, she should have awoken one of them to use as backup, but they looked so disgustingly adorable all cuddled together like that...

The moon had slipped behind a cloud; there was darkness as far as the eye could see. A cold breeze brushed past her as her eyes flickered from one side of her, to the other, alert, and watching for any sign of movement.

**...A slow pace was all that was needed... as long as she didn't hear...**

Mahalia shivered- she felt like she was being watched, but she was unsure where she was being watched _from_. Her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch and she stayed perfectly still.

**... So close now... **

Something rushed past her, causing her to jump back and call out in surprise. She felt her stomach heave with fear as she backed into something completely different. She spun around and screamed. But this was no mere surprised scream, like the one from hours earlier. No, this was a scream of pure terror...

Kirra sat up, awoken by a loud scream from outside the safe haven of the tent. It could have been some animal or something, but no. This scream was definitely human.

Kirra automatically looked over to Mahalia's bed, to see if she had also been awoken, only to find Mahalia's bed empty. Her eyes widened and she desperately shook Kamali's sleeping form.

"Kamali!"

"... Huh?" he murmured under his breath, looking up at her worried face.

"Mahalia's gone!" she whispered hurriedly.

"What?" he sat up promptly and stared at the woman who was sitting in his lap.

"... I heard a scream," Kirra tried to keep herself calm, but she couldn't stop the stuttering and trembling in her voice.

Before she knew it, she had been placed on her feet by Kamali, who was now standing up and yanking on his gloves quickly.

"Come on," he muttered, darting out of the tent. Kirra scrambled around desperately, looking for her own gloves, but this method did not prove thorough enough. She forgot about her gauntlets and dashed out into the cool night air, so different to the humid climate of the tent.

The first thing she saw was Kamali, crouched in the shadows (although this did very little to hide him). The _second _thing she saw was a youma, crouched over a motionless human form. She felt the colour drain from her face as she moved slowly towards it, watching as it revelled in its own craftiness. It was gloating like anything to something invisible, it reminded Kirra of a child showing off his new toy to a bunch of jealous friends.

Kirra was close enough to attack now. She knew that the only reason Mahalia had been attacked was due to her being caught off-guard... well, perhaps it was time to use the youma's own tactics against it. The creature hissed delightedly and crouched over Mahalia, flicking its snake-like, black tongue over its yellow teeth.

Kirra dashed forward and grabbed the creature around the neck, throwing it violently to the ground, and kicking it, causing it to slide a few metres across the sand. She was vaguely aware of Kamali rushing over to Mahalia, picking her up and running back to the tent with her, but this fact could be easily ignored at that point in time.

She was on fire, completely fuelled by her pent-up rage and frustration. After bashing the youma senseless for a while, and letting out her anger, she raised her fist over her head and slammed her hand through the creature's gut. It gagged and coughed up some of the oil-like blood that fuelled it, and Kirra winced as she felt the electric burn on her gloveless hand. She shut her eyes for a moment, gritting her teeth as she felt eh skin on her knuckles burn, but opened her eyes when the creature sniggered.

She stared down on it, and it had a look of triumph on its face.

"We told you... and you know now that we were not kidding."

"What are you talking about?" Kirra snarled, and then something clicked in the back of her head. _"We'll be back for you. Until then, everyone you care for is in danger..."_

"He..."

"What?"

"He will be next..." the youma spat at her, finally becoming still and saying no more. What little colour was left in Kirra's face quickly disappeared, and an unsettling feeling of guilt replaced it. It was happening, just as she feared it would... Mahalia had been the warning. And Kamali would be next, unless she bowed to their will...

Kamali's eyes flickered up from Mahalia, but only momentarily, as Kirra entered the tent. The woman's breathing was extremely shallow and she had a severe cut across her stomach. Kirra felt her face pale again and she turned away. Instead she became fixated on Kamali, who was digging through their small first aid kit, looking for bandages, she assumed.

He grabbed various items and just dumped them on the floor, albeit carefully, as he came to them; antiseptic cream, a box of bandaids ('Perhaps if he used the whole box?' Kirra thought weakly), cotton swabs (never opened or used), condoms (opened and presumably very well used) and finally, underneath the rest of the stuff, bandages.

Kamali grabbed the community katana and cut of a sizeable hunk of the white cloth, and looked up at Kirra.

"I need you to hold her up while I bandage her up."

He said this so frankly that Kirra had a sudden spark of confidence. She crawled over and supported Mahalia's back with her good hand and Kamali just wrapped the bandage around her, over and over again, until there was none left.

"I don't like the way this is going for her," he finally admitted, "That cut is pretty deep and she's having a lot of trouble breathing."

Kirra nodded and watched the blood slowly begin to soak through the bandages, staining them a sickly red. Kamali's eyes flickered to her burnt hand and he blinked. Kirra turned away from Mahalia, only to find Kamali staring at her hand.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt. Plus I can just heal it if it gets really bad."

"You're too tired," Kamali said firmly.

"You sound like my father," Kirra snarled.

"Maybe that way you'll take my advice," Kamali grinned.

Kirra rolled her eyes and stuck her hand out indignantly. Kamali grabbed what little of the bandages were left, and the antiseptic cream, and held her hand softly in his own, leaning down to kiss her palm softly before he quickly but efficiently swabbed and bandaged her hand.

"Now, you sleep," he commanded. "I'll keep watch."

Kirra opened her mouth to argue, but she felt so tired... she nodded exhaustedly and flopped half-heartedly onto the camp bed. Kamali watched her until she went to sleep, and then continued to watch Mahalia.

"Kirra!"

Kirra's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. Kamali was taring at her gravely.

"Mahalia hasn't got any better... I'm gonna take her up to the Senshi ranks and see if they'll just take her back."

Kirra laughed humourlessly. "She wouldn't be happy to know that we begged for her life if she was awake."

"No, she wouldn't... she drifted in and out of consciousness last night, but whenever she was awake, she was weak."

"It's worth a try..." Kirra murmured, "But I doubt that Loch will show us any sympathy whatsoever."

"Like you said, we at least have to try," Kamali decided. He reached for Mahalia, but Kirra stopped him.

"I'll carry her," she whispered, glaring at Mahalia for a second before her eyes glinted gold and Mahalia began to hover off the ground, her limbs drooping down lifelessly beside her.

"Come on," she whispered, in a voice deeper than the norm. Kamali nodded and followed Kirra.

Tasha glared out into the bright sunlight of the morning. Keturah was lying beside her, scales glinting in the sunbeams, a reptilian smile on her lips. The black dragon's tail flicked once and Tasha looked at her bit beast enquiringly.

'She's approaching... I thought they would be coming this way.'

'Who?' Tasha questioned. Her question was answered when she saw Kirra and Kamali walking past, with Kirra glaring furiously at an injured Mahalia, who was levitated into mid-air.

Tasha's right eyebrow rose as she watched them pass. Neither of them noticed her staring at them.

"Welcome! I'm so glad to see you down here!" Loch simpered to the woman in front of him.

The woman's grey eyes flashed dangerously. "I want to know where Kirralee and Martheo are."

"They are out on an assignment, I regret to inform you," Loch replied, "But I will certainly tell them that you were asking for them."

"Why do I doubt you're telling the truth? You've lied one too many times for my liking for me to believe you," the woman snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"I can assure you, they will be back shortly."

"Good. Now take me to the Medical Tent."

"We're almost there," Kamali breathed in relief. Kirra nodded but didn't reply, still completely focused on keeping Mahalia levitated.

They could see what was left of the Senshi camp over the hill; for some reason it looked even smaller than it was when they had left it.

'Surely not that many people could have died in such a short time?' Kirra thought.

They made it to the camp and as soon as they entered it, they felt judging glances and hatred weight them down.

"We'll go straight to the Medical Tent," she stated, and Kamali nodded in reply, his eyes darting nervously to either side of him.

They headed in that direction, and they felt eyes on them, even more so than before. Hopefully they weren't following them; begging to Loch was going to be one of the hardest things Kirra would ever have to do in her life.

The medical tent was reached, and it stood up, overshadowing Kirra like some sort of emblem of doom. She gulped, making sure to swallow her pride at the same time, and ducked into the tent, with Kamali almost having to crouch to follow her.

Loch was in there all right, facing the door as if expecting for them to come through it ('But that's impossible,' Kirra thought, 'How could he have known that we were coming?') and grinned like the cat that ate the canary.

"Back, are you? Ready to beg for forgiveness?"

"We just want you to take Mahalia," Kirra spat. "She's hurt, and we can't care for her as well as you can here."

"What makes you think we'll take one of you traitors back for a reason like that? The reason we send you out there is because we _want _you to die," Loch explained smugly.

"Please, just take her back!" Kirra was ashamed to feel tears budding at the corners of her eyes. She must have been trembling, because she felt Kamali's arm slide around her shoulder protectively.

"I'm not arguing with people I have no respect for! Now get back out there and be happy that you were banished and not killed!"

_"Excuse me?"_

Kirra looked behind Loch (which was no easy feat, because he was wider than he was tall) and Emily was standing there, hands on hips, eyes flashing a steely grey, orange hair swept back behind her.

Emily stormed over to Loch and stared him straight in the face.

"What were you just saying then?"

"Erm..." Loch started.

'There'll be no way for him to get out of this one,' Kirra thought happily.

"Get that young lady onto a bed now!" Emily commanded. Two young, nervous looking doctors rushed up and took Mahalia, rushing away with her.

"I'll be talking to Trinity and Kai about this, mark my words!" Emily shouted at Loch, making him take one step backwards. Kirra didn't blame him; Emily could be frightening when she was angry.

Emily turned to Kamali and Kirra and grinned.

"Just find somewhere to sit until we've finished patching her up. It was good of you to bandage her up to stop the bleeding."

"It was Kamali's idea," Kirra replied.

"Good job," Emily grinned, and Kamali beamed. Getting a compliment from one of the top dogs of the Senshi must've been something for someone who wasn't even an Elite yet.

Emily retreated and Kirra flopped down to the floor, weak with relief.

"We'll just wait here until they've finished and we'll find out how she is... then we'll have to leave," she muttered.

Kamali slid down next to her, resting her head on his shoulder and sighing.

(Two hours later)

Kirra was half-asleep on Kamali's shoulder when Emily returned to them. She vaguely wondered how he could be so alert after having so little sleep.

"Good news, we've revived her and she'll most likely make a full recovery. She lost a lot of blood, but we've got her hooked up to a drip."

Relief descended onto Kirra and she let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Kamali? She wants to see you."

Kamali's eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

"Me?"

"Yeah. She won't see anyone else."

Kirra looked slightly downhearted at this, so Kamali gave her good hand a quick squeeze and kissed the shell of her ear.

"I'll be back in a tick," he muttered, heaving himself to his feet and letting Emily lead him away. Emily shot a quick wink back at Kirra, who stiffened and blushed.

'Looks like someone's soothed the savage beast,' Emily chuckled mentally. 'And it was the most unlikely of people, too.'

Kamali looked from one injured person to the other; the Medical Tent had never been so full, and he doubted the injuries had ever been so horrific.

Emily stopped in front of one particular area, which was curtained off, and gestured to it.

"She's in there?" Kamali asked.

"Yes. Please don't let her talk too much, it'll just weaken her further," Emily said.

"Alright."

Kamali entered the curtained off area and saw Mahalia and almost retched. She was linked up to the most ridiculous amount of machines he'd ever seen, yet he knew ever one of them served a purpose.

Mahalia's eyes brightened slightly when she saw him and she raised one hand weakly in greeting.

"How are you?" Kamali asked uncertainly, kneeling beside Mahalia's head.

"I've been better," Mahalia whispered.

Kamali smiled weakly and nodded. "I should've known you wouldn't have changed."

"Kamali, the only reason I asked for you was to talk about Kirra."

"Why would we need to talk about her?" Kamali questioned.

"As you know, she has a hard time connecting with people. Have you ever stopped to consider why this is so?"

Kamali shook his head, and it was the truth. He'd just assumed it just came naturally to her.

"She was raped, Kamali, and it disgusts me to mention who by."

"Who..." Kamali said uncertainly.

"Loch. Please don't take it out on her," Mahalia rasped, watching the expressions on Kamali's face change rapidly. "She didn't want it to happen."

Kamali frowned and refused to meet Mahalia's eyes.

"She loves you, Kamali. She might have a hard time admitting it, but she loves you with every fibre in her being. You bring out the best in her, as she undoubtedly knows, and you've got to keep it that way for her, to keep her strong."

"Why did she tell you, and not me?"

"Well, you undoubtedly knew that she wasn't chaste," Mahalia commented dryly, "And I think she's scared of what you might think."

"I don't care," Kamali said firmly. "I just... wish she'd told me."

"Like I said, she was ashamed. And as I also said, don't hold it against her. She's a nice person; she just has trouble finding the right people to get close to. And she made the right choice in you."

Kamali nodded slowly in reply.

"Like I said, I don't care."

"Then get out there and _show _her you don't care," Mahalia commanded, with such finality in her voice that Kamali immediately got to his feet. Before he left, he turned around and smiled at Mahalia.

"I hope you get well soon."

"So do I," Mahalia replied lightly, before coughing into her hand softly, and looking after him pointedly. Kamali nodded and left the room.

(Back at the tent, night time)

Kirra was completely buggered. She was so tired that she was going to bed at 7:30. Who the Hell goes to bed at 7:30? Her, obviously. She took up her usual position, snuggled into Kamali's chest, calmed by the rhythmic rise of fall of his breathing.

"Kirra, I want to talk to you about something..."

"Uh-huh?"

"You know how when we... you know... for the first time... and you were already taken?"

"Yeah?" Kirra whispered weakly. He was going onto a topic she definitely didn't want to discuss.

"It was Loch, wasn't it?"

Kirra tensed and Kamali knew Mahalia hadn't been lying to him.

"So, you found out," she whispered dryly.

"Yeah... Mahalia told me..."

"Just go on and say it."

"What?"

"That you hate me."

"I could never hate you, Kirra," Kamali whispered. "I love you, and nothing will ever change that."

"Even though I did it with Loch?"

"I also understand it wasn't to your consent."

Kirra nodded slowly, feeling the hot prickle of tears in her eyes once again.

"Shh... I don't care, okay?" Kamali whispered.

"You don't?" Kirra sounded more surprised than she'd meant to. She sat up to stare him directly; she knew it was hard to lie to someone when they were looking right at you.

Kamali still shook his head. Kirra felt as though the world had been lifted off her shoulders. And as he leaned forward to kiss her, a single tear escaped from the corner of her eye, but was quickly brushed away as he caressed her face and leaned closer...

(Later...)

Still clinging to Kamali and still wide-awake, Kirra stared out into the night, feeling happy yet sad. He was endangering him here... and she didn't want to see him get hurt. Her decision was made.

She slipped off him silently, grabbing her clothes, which had been discarded to the floor what seemed like hours ago, and dug around in her knapsack for a pen and paper. She scribbled hurriedly on the paper and pressed in gently into Kamali's hand.

She then slunk out of the tent and into the night. She stood still, under the foxfire, for what seemed like hours, until she heard the voice...

"So, you have made the right choice."

"You hurt him, and I swear I'll kill you," she hissed to the darkness.

Silence for a moment. Then "You have my word."

Kirra nodded and shut her eyes. She immediately felt the cool rush of bodies running past her, a sharp jab in her right arm, and her limbs go numb. As the darkness consumed her, all she could think of was Kamali, and whether they would keep their promise...

Kamali woke, vaguely aware of the lack of weight on his chest. He shot up to a sitting position when he realized Kirra wasn't in the tent. He suddenly became aware of the piece of paper in his hand. He stared at it curiously, unfolded it and scanned it.

Just three words, written in Kirra's cramped handwriting.

I love you...

And it was at that exact moment that he realized he'd lost her.


	11. Take My Heart Away

Alrighty. I'm sorry for all the spelling mistakes in the last chap. Has to type in WordPad due to a virus in MS Word...

(_The Future)_

'Awoken, have we?'

Kirra's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the bright light, slightly concerned by the foreign voice in her head, comforted by the presence of one so like her...

"Marth?" she whispered.

"I'm here."

Kirra looked around, her field of vision blurred, but despite of this, she could still see the outline of her little brother.

"I thought you were dead..." she snarled, "How dare you worry me like that?"

"Hello to you too," Marth replied.

"May I inquire as to where we are?"

"No idea."

"Well isn't that fabulous?" Kirra responded.

"How did you end up here?"

"What do you mean, little brother?"

"I would have thought that you'd have the sense to stay away from them, after seeing me get taken," Marth explained tartly.

"I did it by choice," Kirra replied simply.

"What!" Marth snapped, trying his best to turn his head, but still being unable to, due to the effects of the drug, whatever it happened to be.

"I'm not saying anything more, Marth."

"Whatever... I've been trying to get in contact with Trin. She can't hear me, Kiz."

"What makes you think she'd be able to hear me, in that case?" Kirra asked.

"At least I'm trying!"

"Marth..." Kirra whimpered, and only then, did Marth realise how tired his sister really was. Her voice echoed exhaustion and he could see her out of the very corner of his eye, trembling slightly.

"I'm sorry," Marth muttered belatedly.

Kirra made no reply, and so they stayed in silence. No words needed to pass between them for them to realise the situation was a great deal more serious than they had originally thought. The enemy had taken them, and they would undoubtedly be after Trin next, perhaps even Kurai and Lita...

'Please, don't let them get Kurai and Lita...' Marth prayed silently.

'... As long as they keep their word,' Kirra sighed mentally.

And so, the two youngest children of Ray and Mariah lay in silence, watching, waiting, and listening, for any sign that things had gone in their favour, or taken a turn for the worst...

_(Senshi Base)_

"Urgh."

Slight eye roll.

"... ouch..."

Frustration.

"Stop it..."

'Okay, this time...'

**"Kai, wake up, damn it!"**

"Argh!"

Kai Hiwatari sat up, and then fell down again, stiff as a board, from the fright of having Trinity yelling at top decibel into his ear.

"Jesus Christ!" he snarled. "Is the world ending or something?"

"Why do you ask?" Trinity replied, only semi-sarcastically.

"I don't see any other reason why you'd holler in my ear like that," he retorted.

'Oh yes,' thought Trinity, 'That's my adorable, romantic Kai alright.'

"Aside from the fact that it's time for us to get to work?"

"Smart-ass," Kai commented, grabbing her left hand and examining the ring that had been slipped onto her finger the night before. "Don't ask me why I'm marrying you."

"Because it's a pretty ring?" Trinity guessed innocently.

"It should be, for what I paid for it," Kai said coolly, before letting out a string of muttered insults about shifty jewellers.

"Yeah, yeah," Trinity cut through Kai's complaints and stretched rather luxuriously as she slipped out of their bed and into the nearby ensuite. Kai's pupils swung like a pendulum in a clock to match the movement of Trinity's hips as she swung around the doorframe and shut the ensuite door behind her.

'What? Closed doors? I think not,' Kai thought automatically. He wrapped the light blue (slightly stained) sheet around his waist and made his way towards the ensuite and grasped the door handle, attempting to turn it both ways until he realized she must have locked the door behind her.

"_Trin_..." he cooed, rather acerbically, expecting an answer from her, but instead heard one of the taps squeaking as it was turned on, and water running down the drain.

"What are you..." Kai started, and immediately stopped when Trinity flung the door open and flung her cupped hands at his face. The water that had been contained between her hands drenched his entire head, making his slate hair droop and his face paler than it usually was.

"Heh..." Trinity threw her head back proudly and crossed her arms over her bare chest. "Gotcha."

"Bitch," Kai snarled, but the snarl was quickly followed by a smirk.

"That's your job," Trinity commented.

"You're funny," Kai replied sardonically, pulling his underwear and pants off the floor and yanked them on, nonchalantly tossing Trinity's black g-string and bra to her. "I can't find anything else you wore last night."

Trinity was about to mention that they were the _only _things she's been wearing when he'd rampaged into their room and shoved the pink diamond ring under her nose. Having waited for the moment for the past ten years, Trinity had immediately agreed, and Kai had literally jumped at the next opportunity he had realized was open to him when he realized that their children weren't actually there to interrupt.

After thinking that, Trin immediately felt guilty. Sure, there were plenty of times she had Kai would have preferred to be left alone and they interrupted, but Kurai and Lita were their children, their own flesh and blood, and were now being kept safe in the past. But she still missed them... heck, of course she missed them.

"Trin?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry... thinking about the kids."

"They can take care of themselves," Kai stated evenly.

"Yeah, of course they can. That's why Lita went into fits of nervous hysteria when she saw the destruction on the battle field," the red-haired woman hissed back, making sure to put an extra sting in her tone of voice.

"Look at it this way; they're safer there than they are here."

"That is true..." she paused, and shut her eyes, trying to control the emotions that were making her feel so unsettled. Love for Kai, stress about another day of warfare. Worry for her children, worry for Emily, who had been like a second mother to her while she was growing up and was still on dispatch in the war and had not been heard from since she had left, and her brother and sister, whom she hadn't heard from for almost a month...

She assumed they were too far away, too busy. More accurately, she _hoped_ that was the case. Nothing had been sent to her about their death or injury. And if they were both gone, it could only mean she was next...

_(The Present)_

Marth watched with half-interest as his mother shifted uncomfortably and scowled across the room at his father. He was vaguely aware that his mother's recent mood swing towards the negative end of the scale had something to do with his baby brother and/or sister that was soon going to arrive. He was rather happy himself, he wasn't going to be the youngest anymore, and he'd have someone to look after. Hopefully it would be a boy, because he didn't know how he could stand another sister. Marth had a vague vision of Trin and Kirra standing over a wide-eyed, pink-haired baby with a chart entitled, 'Ways to hurt your Brother' and shivered. He needed someone for moral support!

Marth's gaze returned to his mother, who was still sitting on the nearby armchair with her knees drawn up to her chin muttering about his daddy. Marth listened and managed to catch some of what she was saying.

"_Mutter-mutter _Ray wouldn't know if his _mutter _was on fire for all the _mutter_ing attention he paid to his surroundings."

Mariah suddenly looked away from Ray, who was still rather occupied in his own little world, and glared at Marth.

"What are you staring at?"

Marth sniffed. His mother never talked to him like that. He was her baby, as she had told him on numerous occasions, and if anything went wrong it was never his fault.

"I'm sorry..." Mariah sighed, gesturing for Marth to come over and hoisting him up onto her lap when he did so. She hugged him and he sniffled again. "What's wrong?"

"It kicked me."

"Eh?"

"It..." he pointed accusingly to his mother's stomach, "Kicked me. It must be another girl..."

Mariah wasn't terribly sure if being able to feel it kick was good or bad. After all, she and Ray got rather close at times... and he seemed to be in one of those, 'everything is perfect. I hope nothing changes' phases so he really needed to wait for the right time to drop the bomb...

"Mummy, I wanna go outside and play with Trin," Marth complained, wriggling pathetically in her embrace.

"Off you go, then," she replied vaguely and watched as Marth jumped off her lap and toddled out the front door.

_(The Future)_

Trinity seemed rather depressed at the current moment to Kai, so he decided to take the job of sifting through the death/missing/injured notices. And there seemed to be a Hell of a lot more than there usually was for these past few days. He slowly began sorting the tickets by their meaning and in turn, their colour; red for death, dark blue for missing, pale pink for injury...

He could remember the past few weeks when Trin had read these instead of him. Her teeth biting hard on her bottom lip, the sharper teeth occasionally drawing blood if she bit too hard, signing the forms with a shaking hand... this made him remember her panic when Kurai and Lita's names had shown up on the Injured list. The notices themselves had a rather stupid design- the Senshi seal, name of the injured and the signature of the commanding officer went on the front, and the signature of the doctor and the description of the injury on the back. He had been peacefully rifling through some recruitment applications when he'd heard the loud smash of glass being dropped from a height, and turned to see Trinity gripping the notes in her hands, having dropped the glass of water she had been drinking in shock. She was shaking violently and her eyes had already become bloodshot from tears. Only after he had calmed her down had he managed to prize the notes from her hands and tell her the injuries weren't at all serious.

She had overreacted in a way that was so out of character for her. To her credit, after all she'd been through, that was the first and only time he had ever seen her reduced to an emotional, blubbering wreck. And considering that when Mariah had read the notes, she'd fainted and had only been caught just in time by Ray, without bothering to read what their injuries were, Trin wasn't doing at all bad.

A note of unusual colour caught his eye under the piles of scarlet, blue and pink notes and he brushed those on top of it away, and picked it up between his thumb and forefinger.

"What's this?" he questioned Trin, without bothering to look up from the note. It had nothing on it but the Senshi logo/seal and the signature of one of the elites...

Trin's eyes flickered up from the forms she was signing hurriedly, and then immediately returned to them.

"Invite of inspection. They want us to come out and visit the troops, encourage them. Or rather, encourage what little remain of them," she added as a bitter afterthought.

"Do we actually _have _to go?" Kai asked.

"I've ignored the last three."

"Why would that be?"

"Not looking forward to the reception."

"Scared, huh?" Kai asked lightly, and was assured he'd hit a nerve when Trinity snarled.

"Hiwatari, I am not _scared_." She spoke as if the entire concept of her ever showing any fear was ridiculous.

"Are you sure?"

_'Of course I'm not sure. I haven't been sure since Marth and Kirra stopped talking...' _Trin thought, but her mouth said, "I'm positive."

"Well, shall we be going?"

"Wait until I've finished this paperwork," she muttered, quickly skimming over the remainder of the files, signing where needed, and shoving it all back into the folders where it originally came from.

"Must go get changed into my ass-kicking garb- meet you back here," Trin smirked, giving Kai's hand a quick squeeze before dashing off down the stairs. As soon as she was sure she was out of Kai's line of sight, her expression darkened and she turned away from their bedroom and towards her parents' quarters- the westernmost wing of the building. (AN: No, that's not a reference to American presidency. It's s reference to Byakko being the White Tiger of the West)

She had to tell them about Kirra and Marth, in case she herself didn't return, and she could swear there was shadows, images of things not really there, following her... she was positive it wasn't paranoia, either. She knew instinctively when she was being tailed, but this time, when she turned around, there was nothing there to greet her but obscurity...

She was being followed by darkness, and it was only a matter of time until it lunged and consumed her...

_(In Exile)_

Tasha and Keturah watched, half-interested, as Kamali crawled half-heartedly out of ex-Squadron A's tent looking rather downhearted. He had a small piece of white paper clutched in his hand, no bigger than an average business card. He continually stole glances at it and sighed so much Tasha thought he might have been hyperventilating. Keturah's tail swished against the side of the tent and she bared her fangs, anguished.

"What's wrong, Keturah?" Tasha asked in a hushed voice.

_'Kintora- Kirra... she threw herself to them in place of him."_

'You think it wasn't worth the sacrifice?' Tasha decided it was easier to mentally communicate with the dragon at that point, although it appeared that her last comment hadn't disturbed Kamali from his angst at all.

_'Love can have a rather stupid effect on human minds, it seems.'_

'Marth once said... he always thought he and his sisters were more human that anything else. After I asked him about the rumours that were always circulating about their family. That's the only thing he ever said in relation to the matter. Do you think he's ashamed of what he is?'

_'I doubt it,'_ Keturah brushed off with a swish of her tail, _'None of them have ever denied it. Rather, they've simply not given the full answer. They want to protect themselves. And their families.'_

'As in their parents?'

_'As in their children,' _Keturah mimicked Tasha, making the dark-haired girl smile. Something tweaked in the back of her mind and she asked, 'Marth has children?'

_'Of course not. If he did, I would be informed.'_

'Then why did you say...' Tasha started, and then saw the look on the Holy Being's face. A rather sly grin, directed at her.

_'It is far beyond my power to toy with the hands of fate.'_

Keturah's gaze was making her feel uncomfortable, so she looked at Kamali, who was once again staring at the piece of paper in his hand. Tasha idly wondered what it said...

Keturah's eyes flickered over one of the nearby dunes of sand, and her body heaved in a sigh that even outdid Kamali.

'What's bothering you?' Tasha asked, and the dragon snarled.

_'Trinity-Kintora is coming this way. Fool.'_

'She wants to know what happened to her brother and sister,' Tasha said, while thinking, **_I_**_ want to know what happened to her brother..._

'She will just be captured in her turn. And then they will all be gone and the enemy can put its plan into its third phase. The second has already started but it is out of my control.'

Tasha didn't ask what the second or third phases were. She didn't want to know, either. But somehow, she knew that their survival ultimately depended on whether Marth, Kirra and Trinity remained safe...

(The Present)

Marth strolled through the scrubland that surrounded his home, rather wary of his surroundings. He was aware of every sound and movement around him, yet he was clueless as to why he was so watchful. A small lizard ran past him, across the path and into the long grass on the opposite side, and Marth jumped about one metre back and damn near screamed out loud. After the small reptile had wriggled into the long foliage on his left he tried to calm himself, but he couldn't rid himself of the uneasy feeling you got when you were being watched. The traditional snap of a twig behind him made him swing around. Marth scowled and had never felt so stupid in all seven years he'd been alive.

This whole scenario was starting to turn out like that really bad 50s horror movie he and Trin had watched on TV about rhe giant, man-eating prawn. He turned back around, and felt the chilling grip of metal around his neck.

He twisted around to see the most hideous creature he'd ever laid eyes on; its entire body was dull black, its eyes were set in its skull like a painter had simply put random yellow blotches of paint on it's face and put pupils in the middle, its long black tongue curled around its razor-sharp, yellow teeth one-by-one, and its long, gangly limbs stuck out at odd angles, however it had managed to bend its right arm in such a manor that it was able to grab Marth around the neck.

Marth felt alarm bells going off in his head, warning him that he desperately needed oxygen, but its grip was so strong around his neck that he couldn't breathe. The machine creature brought its left hand down hard on the vulnerable place between skull and spine, and Marth knew no more.

Trin spun around, having heard her brother's scream. Kirra had heard it too, but Lita and Kurai, who were with them, seemed oblivious.

"I heard Marth scream... quickly!" Trin urged. Kirra and Lita nodded and began to follow, but Kurai froze, and his eyes glazed over.

"Kurai?" Lita whispered.

"There is blood that must be repaid," he said robotically, and strode off through the bushes. Trin decided to ignore that strange behaviour for a moment, and concentrate on Marth's location.

"About 100 metres down from here... to the west. Go!"

The three girls sprinted down the hill, until they knew they had come to the right place, due to the spatters of fresh blood on the pathway. Trin followed the blood and turned right, to find a creature that she had not seen for almost seven years standing over her brother, hissing its delight.

"Youma!" she shrieked, causing the creature to look upwards at her, hiss once, and rush off at light speed through the scrub.

Kirra reached down to cradle her battered little brother's head, whispering softly to him, "Baby brother, please stay with us..."

The darkness... it was taking him. Marth felt his limbs whither with exhaustion, and every litre of blood he had in his body was either rushing to his head or oozing out of his wounds on the way there. He became vaguely aware that his sisters had arrived and someone had grabbed his hand, begging him not to go... but he was so tired...

He shut his eyes and let his limbs fall onto the ground, lifeless.

"Trin!" Kirra shrieked, "We have to help him!"

"I'm... trying..." Trin said through gritted teeth, watching her 'daughter' grabs her 'uncle's' hand desperately. Lita snivelled, then stood up, and screamed. Once she had run out of breath, she settled on burying her face into her knees, as if curling into a ball like that would lock out all the problems she was currently facing. Trin opened her eyes and Kirra immediately saw that they were bloodshot.

"I can't help him, Kiz."

"No! Damn it!" the younger pink-haired girl screamed, burying her face in her hands.

"Do not worry."

Kirra's head jerked around violently to yell at Lita, until she saw that the light-blue-haired girl's golden eyes had an unnatural glaze to them.

"It is not yet his time," Lita whispered, in a voice that sounded too old for her seven-year-old body, and she once again stepped towards Marth and clasped his hand in hers.

Marth found the darkness so comforting... why did the light have to penetrate it?

_Come, Kintora..._

"What...?"

_It is not yet your time, little one..._

"Who are you?"

There was no response, so Marth forced his eyes open and saw a woman of about 18 years, with light-blue hair down to her ankles, and two golden hoops in each ear. But... perhaps what was more bizarre was the unearthly golden glow of her skin and the blue markings that were tattooed on her cheeks. She reached out to him, extending her palm and he noticed she had a black tiger paw tattooed on her wrist...

Could it be...?

He grabbed her hand, and she smiled...

Marth grunted as he sat up, and then started panting desperately, feeling as though there hadn't been any air in his lungs for a few minutes. Trin and Kirra froze, images rushing through their heads...

"It seems that you have long outlived your time, scum."

Trin turned around blindly, looking for the source of the voice but finding herself face to face with her little sister. Kirra pointed somewhere into the blackness, and Trin squinted, just able to make out the figures in the darkness. Once her eyes had adjusted, she could easily see that it was a young man, with dark blue hair swept back into a ponytail, but many loose strands still hid parts of his face from view. The four golden hoops, two in each ear, jingled against each other softly as he whipped a rapier from its spot at his waist and brought the blade down upon... the same youma that had attacked Marth?

The creature shrieked and disappeared in a mass of dark flames, and the man re-sheathed his blade and turned around to face them.

He blinked serenely. "You shouldn't be here. You have already been destined to be judged by my sister. But then again..."

He swiped at the strands of hair that covered part of his face, thus revealing the two triangular blue tattoos on his face.

"There will be many more of us before your time comes, maybe destiny will cause them to choose you instead. Perhaps... they will have less extreme power but... we are all born to serve the starlight. And we are all capable of keeping you safe."

He swiped his hair out of his face again, seemingly unable to make it sit anywhere else, and this time, Trin and Kirra got a glimpse of the black marking on his wrist...

"Now... _go."_

The light shocked Trin's eyes as she realized she'd returned to her own world... dimension... whatever it was this time... and saw that her little brother saw sitting up, yanking his hand away from Lita, terrified, and edging towards his sisters.

"Trin... Kiz..." he whispered.

"I have to go and find Kurai," Lita said simply. She turned around and headed into the thick scrub.

"Trin... they... they're..." Marth whimpered.

"I know, Marth," Trin murmured, without breaking eye contact with the place she had last seen Lita. "I know..."

(The Future)

Trinity's immediate surroundings suited her mood. The weather was overcast, with barely any light penetrating the clouds; it was freezing cold, despite the heavy black trench coat she'd dragged out of her cupboard at the last moment, and the small group of tents gathered at the base of the tor she and Kai were perched on looked so helpless and surrounded because of the hills... it very much suited their current situation, as well as her mood. As they had gotten closer to the desolate war ground, she had become steadily more worried about her little brother and sister. She still couldn't feel their presence, and they said nothing to her, dismissing the thoughts that she might have just missed them, instead of them, in fact, being anywhere near here.

So, her worst fears were confirmed, the fears she had just admitted to her parents, who were far more concerned for Kirra and Marth than she could ever be. She understood this pain a little better, perhaps, now that she was a parent herself, but the look of anguish that had shadowed her parents' faces when she had told both her mother and father that she suspected that Kirra and Marth had been captured or killed sent an uncomfortable stabbing pain to her stomach. She soon realized why; it was the first time she had seen looks of utter defeat and exhaustion on their faces, to see her ever-strong and optimistic mother looking devastated, thought not crying, her grief seemingly beyond what tears could say... her cheerful, compassionate father sliding a comforting arm around her mother's waist but still staring at her, his eyes staring into her very soul...

She must have been showing emotion of some sort, because Kai slipped an awkward arm around her shoulders, but moved away a few seconds later. It wasn't in his nature to be the understanding, empathetic type. Just like it wasn't like Marth to be sarcastic and harsh, and it wasn't like Kirra to be serious and affectionate. But what about herself...? She felt completely emotionless... like she was simply a shell for a greater power. But then again, she had felt that way since she had first discovered her power...

She felt completely insecure, terrified of what was waiting for her, and it seemed to be bringing all her worst memories back to hurt her.

'Well, fuck that for a joke. I've faced worse than this and I've come through; they can come at me with everything they've got and I'll still be ready for them...'

"Come on," she said shortly to Kai, who had been waiting semi-patiently for her to stop glaring down at the Senshi camp, and to actually make a move to get there. They were greeted by everyone's favourite repulsive dumbass, Loch, who had the biggest ass-kissing smile on his face you'll ever see in your life, and a tank top which didn't leave much to the imagination and left bad thoughts of really bad transvestites in Trinity's head.

"Hello, Miss Kon," Loch piqued Trinity just by speaking her name, but she nodded regardless.

"What are you doing out here?" she snapped, causing the stupid grin on Loch's face to fade almost instantaneously. "My brother is supposed to be in charge here."

"Yes, well unfortunately I've had to relieve him of his position due to unfortunate circumstances," Loch snarled, lying through his teeth.

"Where is he, then?" Trinity asked, her right eyebrow raised sarcastically. Loch snarled again and said, "I sent him into exile."

"You fool," Trinity hissed. "You know how dangerous it is out there for the Senshi. I assume the remainder of his squadron went with him, too? Except for Lita Hiwatari and Artemis Sazanami, who were either dismissed or injured in the last major attack?"

Loch looked absolutely dumbfounded, possibly because he's exceedingly dumb, and Trinity continued to stare at him while asking, "Where is my sister?"

"In the same state your brother is."

"Zeona and Xao too?"

"Zeona is injured. But Xao is out there."

The scowl on Trinity's face darkened. A few seconds later, however, she smiled at Loch and Kai couldn't help but smirk; he knew that look all too well.

"Well, in that case, I shall have to go out and reinstate their former positions. And seeing that neither Kai nor myself know exactly where you told them to go, you will have to be our guide."

Loch's face paled and he began to swing his arms wildly around him like he was on fire.

"You don't expect me to go out there! It's far too dangerous!"

"Well, think of what my brother and sister have been put through since you banished them," Trinity hissed unpleasantly, before she swept past Loch and towards the edge of the camp. Kai and Loch stood there, frozen by surprise for a few moments, before Trinity turned back around and snarled, "Coming!" She was addressing Kai more than she was Loch.

Loch moved first, striding past Trinity who whispered in his ear, "I expect to see the medical tent after this. And if I find that my troops are being treated unfairly, it'll be your ass that gets exiled."

Kai walked fast to catch up to Trinity, and slowed down once he was next to her again. "I love it when you're forceful like that," he snickered.

"So you should..." Trin replied, a rather dirty grin on her face.

"I don't find you amusing at all, y'know," Kai snorted.

"Sure you don't," she said evenly, before she flickered her eyes back towards Loch. "We'd better hurry up. It's a sad day when that fat-ass is outrunning us."

(The Present)

Mariah slumped into her side of the bed, expecting Ray not to show for a while yet... it was only about nine thirty, after all, and although all three kids were in bed, she and Ray usually managed to stay up a little later, _usually _being the keyword.

She groaned a little bit, her ankles were throbbing and aching like all Hell, something she'd experienced three times before in her life, and never thought's she'd experience again, let alone _wanted _to experience again. She wasn't even pregnant enough for Ray to notice and her ankles were about to cave in. That led her wonder how pregnant she was, exactly... five, six months? She couldn't have given less of a rat's ass, either, because the farther away it was, the less Ray had to know.

The kids knew... they had enough sense to keep quiet about it... and Emily knew because Emily never missed anything, and because she was the family doctor. She half-expected to give birth in a few months time and then a few days after that, for Ray to come up and say, "Hey, last time I counted, I'm pretty sure that we only had _three _kids..."

She was drawn from her thoughts when the door cracked open and the hallway light shone on her face. This light was quickly extinguished, and Ray slipped into the room, looked at her for a few seconds, and then kicked off his slip-on shoes and tugged his shirt over his head, then discarded his pants and slipped into the bed. Mariah knew from much past experience that he really only did that when he thought he was going to get lucky, which hadn't been happening all that much lately, due to Mariah's violent mood swings. As much as Ray was rather different to all the other boys in the village, who generally thought all women were pieces of meat, provided so you didn't have to do your own housework, give birth to your own kids, or do things she'd rather not think about to keep your sex life at a high, he was still a red-blooded male and he wasn't getting the treatment from her that he was used to.

"Hey, Mao..." he said, trying to slide his arm around her waist in a casual way but failing rather remarkably, and Mariah shivered as she felt the child in her womb shift...

'Oh Jesus. Please, not now...' she thought, biting her lip hard as her stomach lurched once again as the child moved.

Ray hadn't noticed yet. His hand was a little too far down for him to really notice, but if he moved even the slightest bit...

"Yes, Rei?" she finally replied, successfully stopping her voice from shivering.

"I know you well enough to notice that lately you've been acting so secretive..."

"Have I?"

Ray hesitated, and then ploughed on. "Yes... and as much as I respect your privacy, what's so bad that you hide it from me?"

Mariah had to admit he had a point there. They had always been so close, shared their deepest secrets with each other, they were friends before they ever became lovers, and had always been there to hear the other out if they had a problem... what made it so different this time? Courage was welling up inside her suddenly, so she grabbed his hand and forced it to rest on her abdomen.

"Wha..." Ray started, until he felt movement and he shut his jaw again with a loud 'snap'. He yanked his hand away and looked at Mariah, who looked unsurprised by his reaction, but was still biting on her lip hard, determined not to cry. She knew, now, that she definitely didn't have his support, so she said a quick goodnight and turned over in the bed, so she was facing away from him. Ray desperately wanted to comfort her, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Mariah had lied to him, for the first time in their entire lives, and he suddenly felt awkward, so he too lay down, with a sigh, facing away from her, and tried to sleep. But neither of them could, and although they were so close to each other in the bed, they had never felt so far apart...

_(Don't waste your touch,_

_You won't feel anything_

_Or were you sent to save me?_

_I've thought too much, you won't find anything..._

_Worthy of redeeming...)_

Trinity screamed as Kai was once again attacked, and ran over, reaching out to him, only to be knocked back by another of the large group of enemies that were attacking them. Loch had tried to make a run for it, to save his own hide, but about twenty youma broke off from the pack and took chase, and but a few seconds later, they had heard a blood-curdling scream...

So, the whole thing had been a plot to get to Kai and herself the whole time... and now, because of her delusional little quest to find Kirra and Marth, she and Kai were going to be killed, just like her sister and brother probably had been...

She could feel the blood dripping down from her temple to her cheek, like tears that she would never shed. She had been dazed for a few seconds but she got up again, and watched, as if in slow motion, as Kai copped another swift blow to the head, then the stomach, and fell to the ground, on his knees, completely winded, and bleeding from an open cut across his cheek, that had almost completely obscured his blue tattoos from view.

_(**Yo he esta-do agui muchas veces antes y regreso**_

_To... break down, and cease all feeling_

_Burn now, what once was breathing_

Reach out, and you may take my heart away)

Trinity once again attempted to reach Kai, but was held back and could only watch as they continually attacked Kai and strips of his clothes were ripped from his body, leaving blood in its wake. The sharp fingers of the youma scathed his chest, leaving bright-red, symmetrical cuts across his stomach, and he was beginning to scream in pain.

Trinity was then grabbed by the throat tightly, and she gagged violently into the face of one of the youma. In fact, this particular one looked slightly familiar...

"You thought that you could beat us, wench," Xan spat into her face, revelling in Trinity's scream as the liquid their creator had used as their saliva burned her skin, "But our master... he always said... that no-one would ever defeat us. We were genetically perfect, compared to you, one whose genetics are that of beast and human... but then again, how are beast and human really different, in the long run?"

Red raw patches were appearing on Trinity's face, where Xan had spat on her, but she made no reply.

_(Imperfect cry, and scream in ecstasy_

_So what befalls the flawless?_

_Look what I've built_

_Please don't do this..._

_It shines so beautifully_

_Why won't you look at me?_

_Now watch as it destroys me)_

"When our creator thought we were getting out of hand... he tried to stop his partner from producing us any longer. But his partner saw our usefulness... and continued to make us, but changed us to look such as this... so we struck terror into the bravest of hearts... and this is proved on you. You should see yourself, cowering..."

Trinity refused to look away. She refused to see herself as a coward; after all she had grown up with and believed in.

"Not submitting? Well then... let's see how you do without the male here..."

Trinity's eyes shone with realization as she squirmed in Xan's tight grasp to see Kai fall one last time, blood dripping from deep cuts on his face and torso, and watched in horror as the youma simply kicked him down the die of the sand dune they were on top of.

Xan's eyes shone greedily as he looked back at Trinity.

"Now I can see it... the terror... now you are mine."

A sharp, stinging pain emerged on Trinity's neck and she gagged violently once again as the thick hypodermic penetrated the thick artery in her neck, her eyes rolled back in her head, and the world seemed darker...

_(I... break down, and cease all feeling_

_Burn now, what once was breathing_

Reach out, and you may take my heart away 

_... Heart away...)_

Loch crawled over the sand hill, both of his legs hanging uselessly behind him, but he could see the exiles' tents in the distance. He knew the youma were just playing cat and mouse with him, but he knew the farther he could get, the better his chances. He could see Kamali now, and he reached out pathetically.

"Xao!"

Kamali's head jerked around and his eyes widened out of surprise and horror as his gaze fell onto Loch.

"They're after us... Trinity Kon and Kai Hiwatari were here too... but I think they got Kon..."

A shriek in the distance caused Loch and Kamali to look into the horizon, and Tasha to stick her head out of her tent and watch the scene with surprise, and Loch looked even more desperate.

"Please! They're coming..."

"No."

"What!"

"You never showed any guilt when you sent thousands of people out on aimless missions, and they came back dead! It would be half of what you deserve. And what you did to Kirra..." Loch began to glare at this, "For that, I'll never forgive you," Kamali snarled. Tasha watched in shock as Kamali, whom she had always seen as so gentle and good-natured, turned icy-blue eyes to the youma and then back to Loch.

"Here comes your destiny, bastard."

Loch screamed as the youma engulfed him, tearing strips of flesh off his body, exposing his bones, and Kamali watched the whole ordeal with a grim satisfaction. Tasha went to raise her hand to her mouth in shock, but put it back to her side halfway there, but did not avert her gaze.

When the youma hand finished with Loch, Kamali could see that there were no visible remains left, and turned to him and Tasha. Tasha stood up strongly, ready to fight, and Kamali stood rigid, looking around as if daring them to come closer.

But the youma did not come any closer to either of them; they simply stared at Kamali.

"You can tell her that we kept our word," one of them hissed to Kamali, and then all of them took off at once, in a flurry of black limbs and blood.

As soon as they were all gone, Kamali stepped forward and began to walk out into the desert. When Tasha ran to catch up with him with a questioning look on her face, he said, "Loch told me that Kai Hiwatari and Kirra and Marth's sister were with him. I need to look for them."

Tasha had the feeling that he'd rather be alone, but followed him regardless, completely oblivious to what they might find, and what it would lead to...


	12. Breathe For Me

Stick a fork in me, because this chapter is finally done… don't kill me for taking so long! -Big teary anime-esque eyes- I don't own Beyblade yet, but I'm planning to make it my first acquisition when I conquer the world. You know whom I own...

You have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter and attempt to keep everyone in character... this story really is becoming a healthy mix of romance/action/adventure/angst/fantasy, now that I come to think of it...

**Warning: **This chapter has some rather graphic descriptions of mutilation/torture and the end, so if that stuff isn't your cup of tea, please be aware. It isn't too bad; I just don't want you to be surprised/shocked/disgusted when you read it.

-x-

_'Trin!'_

Golden eyes opened slowly and immediately shut again, squinting against the neon light.

"Hello, Trin. Didn't expect you to get caught, after they came after us in all..." Kirra said, rolling her eyes, "I thought even someone with your limited intelligence could sense a pattern emerging."

"Interesting position that they've put you two in," Marth commented, his pupils forced into the very corners of his eye sockets to see his sisters. Trinity had been haphazardly thrown into the reinforced metal room two days ago, and had landed in a rather compromising position, on her sister's chest.

"They probably consider this hard-core lesbian porn. It must get pretty boring out here, on those long, cold nights..." Kirra started, but was interrupted by her sister.

"... I thought you were dead..."

"To be honest, I thought we'd be as good as it as soon as we got here," Marth said, the serious edge returning to his voice. "Since I've been here, I've only ever seen one person, though."

"Who?"

"The girl who comes in every so often to drug us up," Kirra said dryly.

"Girl?" Trinity seemed to be waking up a little more now and her words sounded like more than drunken slur.

"Human. Blonde, tall. Marthie gets to see right up her skirt when she shoots him up," Kirra snickered.

"_Shut. UP_," Marth hissed at his sister.

"Oh, sorry Marth. I forgot that Tasha would be jealous..."

"_Both of you shut up," _Trinity snarled at her siblings. She had no idea why, but it was amazingly comforting to be able to keep control over them again.

"Well, it _is _true!" Kirra said earnestly.

"I honestly don't care about my little brother's love life at the moment, thanks Kirra... and frankly I could make some interesting comments about your love life at the current time, too." Marth gave what sounded like a triumphant snort as Trin said this. "What I'm interested in is getting out of here."

"I'm not liking your chances, Trin," Marth said.

"Kintora? If we..." Trinity questioned, but was interrupted mid-sentence by her sister.

"When we change into Kintora there's a tiny little niggle with what we leave behind."

"Our human bodies?" Marth questioned.

"Precisely," Kirra answered evenly.

"I knew the three of you would conspire if we put you together."

Marth's eyes swivelled in their sockets until they were looking so far up they were watering, and saw the younger human girl standing there. Her eyes were still blank, but there was a slight twitch in the muscles in her right cheek that made Marth think that their control over her couldn't be a total as it could be. But then the twitching stopped and her face was once again blank as that of a doll's.

"Humans... so pitiful... the cancer of this very planet. Yet humans are the reason I exist. I suppose I owe your race _something_..." the girl suppressed a low snigger, "But then again, who could call what you are human? You three are truly stuck in the middle, aren't you?"

Neither Trinity, Marth nor Kirra replied to this question. This seemed to fuel desire for more baiting, and the girl continued.

"Don't you three even know why you were the children chosen to inherit bit beast powers?"

"Cram it up your ass," Kirra finally snapped, her eyes firmly fixed on the blonde. Marth inwardly rolled his eyes. "You know all this. We are what we are because of powers bestowed upon our parents' descendants by the dead counterpart of Driger. We are the first generation born to both the blessed families after the families' bloodlines grew far enough apart, and our parents were able to screw each other until their eyes rolled and not be worried about us being born with eleven toes. Whenever any of the descendants of the man who originally had Driger inherit the same bit beast, they fall in love with the woman who inherits Galux and create Kintora."

"You have a very slim view on what this really means, Kintora."

"Fine, enlighten us, then!" Kirra exclaimed, sounding slightly hysterical. "You tell us why we're different."

The girl was silent for a moment, and stood there like a realistic mannequin. Whoever was controlling her was obviously thinking through telling them what he or she knew about their strength.

"It's true that you were born through a genetic anomaly, inherited from both your parents. It seems that when a woman and man with this irregularity have children, it has always resulted in the next Kintora being born. Driger and Galux apparently make this abnormality form when someone inherits their power. But what you don't see is what you three having children may actually mean."

The girl paused for a moment, and then took a short breath and continued.

"No other human/Kintora hybrid ever had children. The Driger and Galux bits went to the nearest relatives of him or her, and the bloodlines between the two original bearers of those two particular Holy Beings grew farther apart. I'm surprised the link still exists. But I suppose it's possible; you do come from a rather close-knit community."

"Do you know our shoe sizes too?" Kirra snapped. The girl, who had once again frozen like some life-sized doll, ignored this.

"You three are human. More human, at least, as compared to the other Kintoras. You seem to see humans as a race apart from yourselves, yet you learned to see them as the species closest to what you are, and learned to accept them for who they were... imperfect, at least compared to yourselves. As humans, you may be imperfect... in many ways," the girl added with a little extra scorn, the scathingly cold words reflecting the slight emotion on her face, "But as Kintora, as a powerful spirit... Holy Beings are possibly the closest to perfection any race is likely to get."

"The other Kintoras never felt love for any members of the human race, even their own parents. You do, albeit hesitantly so first off... you had children by a perfectly normal human male," the blonde continued, nodding towards Trinity, who simply stared her down with her one visible eye, refusing to blink.

"Those children aren't normal. However the man in question does have a bit beast, the red phoenix, unless I'm mistaken. This may have something to do with it... after all... obtaining Driger and Galux had an effect on your parents' feelings and even their DNA. We could only be sure if any of you had children by normal people, without any links to bit beasts. Currently..." the woman emitted a small sneering sound as though she wanted to add a 'but not for long' to the sentence, "None of you are."

"Wait a minute," Kirra interrupted. The girl inclined her head slightly, smirked, and nodded for Kirra to continue.

"Kamali has nothing to do with the Holy Beings. If we had children, you'd be getting what you wanted," Kirra snarled, glaring at her siblings who, despite the situation, seemed to be humouring themselves over the thought of Kamali and their sister having children.

Blank blue eyes narrowed, and the smirk became even more prominent on the young face, making the girl look years older.

"You're a fool," she stated, her pupil-less gaze still piercing into Kirra, "It's amazing, the degree of ignorance some people have... assuming you're aware that he too is Chinese?" The answering glare was taken as a yes. "And assuming you know you're from the clan of the White Tiger?" Another glare, this time accompanied by a sarcastic snort. "What makes you think there aren't clans for the other four seasonal Holy Beings?"

"Your point being?" Kirra questioned, feeling her patience wearing paper-thin.

"Xao Kamali was from the clan of the Blue Dragon." All three pairs of golden eyes widened, and Kirra's mouth dropped open to form a perfect 'o'. This was obviously the desired effect, so their captor spoke again through the girl, "There are very few true members of that particular Clan left. They've been rapidly losing power ever since they submitted their Holy Being to two rather willing Japanese archaeologists..."

'Tyson's father and brother,' Trin whispered mentally to her brother and sister, whose eyes flickered towards their eldest sister, but they said nothing.

"Yes, Kinomiya's father and brother," said the younger voice, and if Trinity had been able to move she would have jumped through the roof out of shock. "We've been watching all the children from all the clans, including yours, from a very early age. None except children from your village showed any abnormal powers. I really didn't see the Blue Dragon clan's philosophy... killing two true clan members for producing another true descendant of the clan, and then offloading the orphaned child to two outsiders..."

Marth had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but immediately knew they were referring to Kamali because Kirra hissed angrily and started throwing completely random and jumbled insults at the blonde girl, who smirked.

"Now, now... language," the teen mused as Kirra used the word 'fuck' three times in the same sentence, as a noun, verb and adjective. "You're being so rude, after I bothered to tell you what you didn't bother finding out about yourself and your lover."

Scared that Kirra would let loose with another string of colourful language, Marth asked, "What about Tasha?"

"Tasha Reeves?" the girl asked blankly, and Marth answered with a stare. "Not much is known about her... we mainly focused on the Chinese children as they grew up, so we aren't very knowledgeable about foreign children's links to their bit beasts... other branches of our organization take care of that. Except we know her link to her bit beast Keturah is powerful; this is possibly the only reason our main HQ told us about her when she came to China to join your parents' little group of unfortunates. The bond between Tasha and Keturah is strong, even by your standards, Kintora. Such a bond between a normal human and a Holy Being is unusual; I'll admit that... other than that, she has no links to the Holy Being world. She's not from China; she has no Clan links to the Holy Beings. However, it would be interesting to see children between yourself and Tasha would be like..." the blonde continued, while a red colour that would have put Dranzer to shame rose to Marth's cheeks.

"Children between Kintora and the holder of the Phoenix of the south, one of the most powerful Holy Beings. Children between Kintora and a person who has no Holy Being but a strong blood link to one of the other seasonal Holy Being clans, and children between Kintora and the holder of a non-seasonal Holy Being... it would have interesting to see, but of course, if we were really _that _interested we could have had them brought back here and extracted their DNA..." the girl's voice faded away momentarily, like she was considering going on. Instead, she chose a new topic of conversation. "The objects of your affections' really do love you all deeply... no doubt they would have taken great pleasure and pride in giving you children... or raising the ones you already had," she finished, nodding towards Trinity.

"They'll come for us," Trin snarled, and Kirra and Marth obviously agreed, judging by the looks on their faces.

"No doubt... but by the time they arrive here, it will already be too late to save you, and we will have other uses for them... and rest assured, we will find your children and dispose of them as well... once we have no more _use _for then in our labs, that is..." Trinity let out a strangled cry in reply to this statement and started throwing threats in exactly the same way Kirra had been shouting insults before.

At this point, Marth felt his finger twitch. He tried to keep the expression on his face exactly the same, but it was too late, the girl had already seen it. Smirking and brushing a loose strand of dirty blonde hair out of her face, she retrieved a syringe from her pocket, and the bottle of clear fluid that immobilized the three Kon children. She filled the syringe to its full capacity, and quickly injected a third of the liquid into the side of each adult's neck, not bothering to change the needle of the syringe in between.

"I'll be back soon... never fear," she sneered, and slipped out of the room silently, leaving Marth, Kirra and Trin feeling vulnerable and, although they were in each other's company, completely alone. Fear invaded every muscle of their bodies as the drug once again took hold of them; fear for Kai, Kamali and Tasha, fear for their parents, fear for Kurai and Lita. But, as selfish as it may sound, fear for themselves and each other ran rampant through their minds, knowing that until whoever-it-was was finished with them, those they loved would at least be safe to a certain degree. But what would happen after they were gone?

'If anything happened to Kai, Kurai or Lita, I would never forgive myself,' thought to herself. 'It would be my fault... if anything happened to any of the people we love, it would be on my head, and I wouldn't be able to cope with it, regardless of whether I was alive or dead...'

-x-

Kai Hiwatari was at this point, still drifting between unconsciousness and sleep, and was having very strange, fleeting dreams that only lasted for the smallest of times, but were still powerful enough to make him feel uneasy. At first, he only saw shadowed figures wandering and murmuring in the corners of his mind, until the visions became clearer and he was able to make out ten separate people... but were they people? The only two he could see with some form of clarity definitely looked human, but their movements were fluid, graceful... easily more so than a human's natural way of moving or standing... almost like they were suspended on thin air...

Now... now he could hear what they were saying more clearly... he strained his ears to listen to the faint murmuring coming from these people.

"... And we still wait for the assistance of the other eight... they are still some time away, however. Currently, we can rely on no-one but ourselves."

"We need help from a different source... we are still awaiting the arrival of our companions and our power..."

"Soon, soon... the Star is not far away now... and once it arrives the absence of our comrades will not be such a depletion to our potency."

"I know that, brother."

_Brother...?_

Two pairs of eyes turned on Kai, and he flinched. This was a dream... they could not really see him...

"Why did you come here?" the more feminine of the two voices whispered. "You should be out saving her... she means so much to us..."

"They are waiting for you to save them... they do not have much time... if you wait for much longer, it will be too late and it will be up to us to decide their fates. And we may not be able to save them this time," the other voice whispered, and Kai decided it was definitely a male voice. The two figures moved closer together and their eyes shone in the light for a brief moment... but not brief enough for Kai to miss it. Mahogany and bright gold...

_No, it couldn't be..._

"Please... save them..." the girl whispered again, before they both raised their hands towards Kai and said, in perfect sync, "Go."

-x-

Kai sat bolt upright, gasping for breath, and immediately regretted it, as he felt searing pain race across his forehead and down the left side of his body. He fell back down limply, still gasping for breath.

"He's awake."

Kai forced his head to the left and saw a dark-haired girl sitting by the camping bed he had been placed upon. He immediately recognised her from the files he and Trin kept on the squadrons; she was Tasha Reeves from Marth's little gang of rule breakers. Kamali Xao then poked his head into the tent and nodded at Tasha, who stood up and stretched her limbs, before edging past Kamali and to the outside of the tent. Kamali then ducked into the tent and took up Tasha's position of sitting at Kai's bedside.

Kai's head moved from side-to-side, eyes darting about, unsure of what had happened or how he'd even come to be where he was.

"If you're looking for Trinity, she's been taken by the youma," Kamali stated evenly, seemingly transfixed on the front of the tent, intent not to meet Kai's gaze. "She got taken at the same time you were injured. To the same place Marth and Kirra were taken to, presumably." Kamali's voice trembled so slightly it was barely noticeable as he said Kirra's name, and Kai watched Kamali take a small piece of white paper out of his pocket and start to fiddle with it between his fingers.

"Well... why are we just sitting here, in that case?" Kai asked blankly.

"Do you have any idea where they would have taken them, anyway?" Kamali asked just as blankly.

Kai was silent for a few seconds, so Kamali nodded. "I thought not."

"That's no excuse to give them up for dead," Kai spat angrily.

"If our positions were reversed, they may have been able to save us. After all, they are stronger than we could ever possibly be."

"Is that the way you look at it?" Kai snickered. "Well, if you want to look at it that way... Kirra sure as Hell wouldn't have given up on you."

Kamali flinched and Kai grinned maliciously. If they thought he was dead, or was going to leave Trin for dead, they were sadly mistaken.

'Dranzer!'

After a few seconds, the phoenix answered its master. _'Yes, Kai?'_

'Where is Kintora?'

_'Even now I know they are very far away,' _the phoenix said doubtfully, _'I cannot feel their presence from here.'_

'Can you tell which direction from my current location they are?'

Dranzer paused once again, this time for about three minutes. Kai thought he had lost the mental connection with his bit beast until he felt the warming presence of the phoenix again, who seemed to feeling rather triumphant. _'Northwest. I had to fly around for a small amount of time to get a better feel of it.'_

'Thank you, Dranzer. Please return to me soon... I'll need your help. Tell the three Mystics to come, too.'

_'As you wish, Kai,' _Dranzer said, and the phoenix left its master's mind.

"What if they're gone?"

Kai's pupils moved to look at Kamali, but his head stayed still. The younger man sighed and irritably brushed at his fringe with his hand, although it was barely anywhere near his face.

"I don't think I could live with myself, knowing that I'd just sat here on my worthless ass while my best friend was being killed," Kamali mumbled, his fists clenching and his teeth gritting so hard that Kai could hear them squeak against the friction. "But if I got there, and we were already too late to save them... if I was too late to save her, I don't know what I'd do with myself then, either..."

"The only way to actually find out is to try," Kai said wryly. "And they're not dead yet. I asked Dranzer."

Kamali nodded, and Tasha ducked through the door of the tent.

"So, will you be joining us on our little quest, Reeves?"

"Why does it have anything to do with me?" Tasha questioned cynically, raising one eyebrow at Kai, immediately guessing what Kai was talking about.

"He's your squadron leader, disbanded or no. You have a loyalty to your squadron," Kai stated.

"Plus everyone saw how you tried to save him..." Kamali muttered, grinning at Tasha's reaction.

"There's nothing going on between me and Kon," Tasha snapped, praying that her face wasn't colouring.

"I doubt it. Even his own family thinks Marth is gay," Kai snickered in his usual shit-stirring manor.

"Ever considered that he mightn't have found the right person?" Kamali questioned, scratching the back of his head idly. "Just because I hadn't been in a relationship with anyone before I met Kirra doesn't mean I'mgay."

"Can we get off the topic of Marth being gay?" Tasha snorted, trying to sound as unconcerned as possible.

"She just doesn't want to believe it..." Kai said, shaking his head in mock-pity.

"Shut up, Hiwatari," Tasha hissed tensely.

"Hey, we're on the same side, remember?" Kamali said, trying to break the glaring competition between Kai and Tasha. Tasha blinked, and looked at Kamali.

"I know that. I'm just worried about them, is all."

"You're worried about Marth," Kamali corrected her. "You'd never met Trinity and you're not all that friendly with Kirra..."

Tasha shrugged, not denying it.

"I didn't know him at all. But I knew him the best of the three of them."

"So you'll be coming with us, Reeves?" Kai asked.

"Bet on it, Hiwatari," Tasha replied instantaneously. The look of satisfaction on Kai's face was driving her mental.

"Very well. Now all we have to wait for is Dranzer and the Mystics. After that, we'll be getting on our way."

-x-

_(The present)_

Mariah sat at the kitchen table, watching her three children and nonchalantly sipping her third cup of espresso coffee. She noticed that, lately, the three kids were looking particularly drained and exhausted; Trin had heavy dark rings around her eyes, Kirra kept blinking and stifling yawns that continually threatened to escape her lips, and Marth seemed unusually twitchy and nervous. He held his cup of milk with two trembling hands and sipped it quickly, raising the glass to his lips violently and taking just enough to moisten his throat, and then slamming it back onto the table with a clink. Mariah watched him for a few minutes, until she heard someone else enter the room.

Hiromi walked into the well-lit room, stretched luxuriously, and slunk over to the table, grabbing a mug and turning the kettle on the bench on to boil.

"And how are we all this morning?" she chirruped.

Mariah gave her a 'shut up' look and Marth's hands trembled a little more severely. Neither Trin nor Kirra acknowledged Hiromi's existence.

Tyson suddenly entered the room, looking extremely perplexed. Hiromi noticed, and grinned at him. He made some sort of strangled, gargling sound in reply. The kettle boiled, Hiromi filled her teacup with water, dumped in three tablespoons of sugar and sidled out of the room, passing Tyson and running her index finger down his arm.

Tyson heard his bedroom door slam, and he rushed over to the table, sloppily poured himself a large cup of coffee, and began drinking it, his hand's shaking worse than Marth's.

"What the Hell is wrong with that woman? She's like some sort of dominatrix Barbie..."

Mariah grinned. However, her momentary amusement dissipated when she saw Ray walk calmly into the room, avoiding eye contact with her and indeed everyone else at the table. Mariah kept a glare fixated on him as he jadedly made himself tea, downed the entire cup of liquid in a few gulps, and walked out of the room again, exiting the way he came. He passed Lee on the way back, and his old friend stared at his brother-in-law, unable to remember a time when he'd looked that frustrated or upset.

"Good morning," Lee greeted his sister as he reached the table. Mariah grunted in reply, and he smirked.

"Bad night, huh?"

"You could say that."

"What made it so bad? Never thought you'd be in a bad mood with Ray next to you in bed," Lee snorted.

"He found out about the little secret," Mariah snarled, mentally punching herself in the gut.

"The next of his spawn?" Lee sounded genuinely unconcerned about this.

"Yes. He didn't take it as well as I thought he would."

"I thought he'd be upset about you keeping it from him, but not about the kid itself."

"Yeah, well, he is," Mariah hissed, violently snatching a piece of toast and tearing a large chunk off it, chewing angrily to keep herself from letting out a string of insults, mainly about her husband.

"Don't be so mad at him. Give him time to come around. He'll get over it in a while. You've already got three, one more won't make a difference," Lee said, stretching felinely and yawning.

"I know that he needs some time to consider it. But... it's just that he was so openly supportive of me the last three times. What's made him so anxious about this time?"

"Mari, I don't have the answers to your questions. There's only one person in this household that can answer your questions, and I'll be he's back in your room, despairing over the answers to the questions you want to ask at this very moment."

"Stuff him," Mariah sniffed, and Lee grinned, "That ratfink can despair a little longer."

Lee shook his head, but he was still grinning at his sister's open display of discontent on Ray's less-than-thrilling reaction to her pregnancy.

At this time, Ray wandered out of the corridor, looking slightly nervous and apprehensive. Mariah glared at him and once again bit violently into her piece of toast.

"What do you want?"

Ray raised an eyebrow, but spoke calmly. "I just thought you'd like to know that Kurai and Lita are gone."

-x-

The next few hours in the cell were tense. None of the three Kon children dared to even breathe loudly; seemingly afraid that doing anything out of the ordinary, even talking to each other, would determine the enemy's next move.

Marth lay on his back, staring vacantly at the ceiling and thinking about all he had back home, with the people he cared for and the people who cared for him in return. He worried for his parents, his sisters, Artemis, Kurai, Lita, Tasha... everyone whom he had ever cared about in his entire life trickled through his mind. Slowly, painfully...

He thought of his parents, who had lost everything they loved, their hometown, their families, and their friends... and yet, everything that had been important to them had paled in comparison to the priority they had always given to his sisters and his personal happiness.

His sisters, caught in the same situation, both of them having people in their lives that would undoubtedly die for them if the need arose.

Artemis, injured and sick, back at the main base. What would happen to her if the youma ever managed to reach the base, let alone all the other people there?

Kurai and Lita, the closest things he'd ever had to younger siblings. In fact, they were more like a little brother and sister to him than a nephew a niece, being so close to them during their upbringing. Were they really safe in the past? Somehow, he doubted it, and he didn't want to think of what would happen if any dire situation arose in the past. Two seven year olds and a handful of holy beings against an army of youma? They would all be killed...

And Tasha... what had happened to her after he had been taken? He wasn't dead, he's learned that much for Keturah, however... physical wounds were only a part of it. Emotions and mentality could be scarred easier than flesh. Somehow he doubted she'd show it, even if she was scarred underneath it all. And more importantly... why the Hell did she kiss him back if she didn't care for him at all?

Marth was suddenly distracted by the smooth, metallic sliding sound of the cell door opening. He saw the pale, too-slender legs of their usual drug-administering girl, but also, the mangled limbs of two youma, their uneven metal claws screeching along the steel floor as they shifted their feet.

Some time passed before anyone made a sound, but the next voice was utterly clear in its orders.

"The male first."

In the blink of an eye, sharp pain scalded across the back of Marth's neck. He heard his own strangled cry, heard Trin's sharp intake of breath, and heard Kirra scream piercingly...

But after that, he saw and heard nothing...

-x-

Tasha, by this time, had fallen into a haunted and weary sleep. She continually tossed and turned, and considering that she usually slept quite heavily, she was jumpy and nervous about anything that crossed her mind. It was doing nothing to help he get to sleep, but it was better than continually worrying about Marth.

But how was it possible to not think about him? He'd kissed her and disappeared before she even had time to consider what to think about the whole ordeal. He seemed like a nice enough person, but he was so...

She didn't actually know.

He and Artemis had tried to reach out to her, and she had eschewed them, thinking that they were doing the wrong thing by looking out for those they were concerned about, or loved. But now she realized that she had been wrong. She didn't know how it had occurred to her; perhaps it was the short amount of time she had spent with Marth that had made her realize that emotions were more important than actions. Perhaps it was the way she had seen Squadron A become so close to each other, and enjoyed each other's company. Heck, she'd even begun to feel a soft spot for Kamali and his squeeze. But regardless of what she felt for Marth, she doubted she could ever fully tolerate Kirralee, even though now she could probably stand the sight of her.

Tasha's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a soft hand touching her shoulder. Her immediate thoughts were that it was Kamali or Kai, but why the Hell would they be touching her like that? Gathering her courage, she opened her eyes and rolled over, and her gaze immediately locked with someone else's. The golden gaze shocked, and she sat bolt upright and suppressed a scream.

"Marth?"

-x-

Kai heard whispers, utterly unintelligible mutterings, coming from behind him, so he sat up, and forced his eyelids to open enough to allow him to see properly. He knew he was physically awake... but he still felt sleepy, drifting in and out of exhaustion. It was a strange sensation, like someone had put him into a trance with a heavy blow to the head. He could make our two blurred figures in the distance, so he rubbed his eyes vigorously and focused all his strength into seeing who they were.

It was the same two young people, the man and the woman, that he had seen earlier in the day, when he had been unconscious. The woman's slate hair rustled over her bare shoulders with an unearthly shine and slickness to it, and the man's eyes darkened as he listened to her whisper.

"It seems everything in is order, then," he commented, flicking his hair back over his shoulder in suppressed triumph. "All they need is a little encouragement, a little 'push out the door', if you will..."

"They care about them, regardless of whether they chose to act or not... brother, I feel guilty for doing this, but we need them back, we need their strength..."

"And we shall have it, once we have completed this task. Now go, sister, and let's hope luck is with us both."

In the blink of an eye, the two people were gone, and Kai felt himself being unwillingly pulled back into nothingness, into darkness..."

-x-

"This is a dream," Kamali whispered, having woken up to feel a familiar weight resting on his lap... and Kirralee looking directly into his eyes.

"And how could it be a dream, if you're awake?"

"You're not her. You're not the Kirralee that I know," Kamali muttered uncomfortably, trying unsuccessfully to push the pink-haired woman off his knees.

After a long pause, the image of Kirra seemed to hesitate, and she finally spoke, "You know her better than I expected you would."

"When you care that much for someone..." Kamali hesitated, then continued, "You know what they're like in every aspect. Their characteristics, their touch, their feel..."

"Then in that case, you are indeed worthy of knowing that I am not her," the figure grinned, and Kamali felt a pang of recognition and loss. "However, I speak on behalf of her."

"Then speak," he grunted shortly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking impatient.

"... She's in great danger. They all are. If you don't save them, soon they'll all be dead and there will be no hope for the future of my kin or myself."

"Tell me something I don't know," he snapped. He was getting tired and frustrated, and seeing a fake figure of Kirra, the one person he may truly ever love, he felt ridiculously over-emotional, too.

"You have no idea what they're doing to her, do you?"

Kamali became watchful of the woman, and shook his head.

"They wanted all three of them for... experiments. I think their eventual goal will be force-growing their crossbred children. They're testing the strength of Kintora, and we do not appreciate having our power probed in such a way. They also want samples of their body tissue, readings of their brainwaves... anything they think will bring them one step closer to finding the genetic pattern that creates beings like us. Already they have attacked our home, but we managed to hide the source of our power in a place we know is safe, at least for now. But, if the bit beast world loses its power totally, they won't survive. None of us will."

Kamali nodded slowly, twice, to show his understanding, and said, "I'll use every ounce of my strength to make sure they're kept alive."

"You're a good person, Xao Kamali. And to think Kirralee held you back all those times..."

"How do you know about that?" Kamali questioned abruptly.

'Kirralee' just grinned. "Help them."

And with a single blinding flash of light, she was gone.

-x-

He felt the same... looked the same... tasted the same way as he had when he had kissed her the first time. He had his arms around her back, one hand resting on her shoulder blades and the other on her thigh, holding her with such gentleness, as if he thought she would break in two.

And yet, Tasha knew this couldn't be real...

This wasn't really Marth...

Unexpectedly, she pulled away from him and gasped for air, and when he took a step closer to her once again, her eyes were vigilant.

"You tricked me."

"I am only doing what Marth would do, if he was here instead of me. I know his innermost thoughts, feelings, wishes... and he would have acted in the same way."

"Regardless, you're not Martheo Kon," Tasha hissed.

"I don't deny it. However, you must know why I did this..."

"I'm waiting with baited breath."

"Martheo Kon could be dead, soon," the man stated simply, "So could Trinity and Kirralee. His last, dying wish would have been to see the ones he loved again, happy. His family, his friends... and you. He wants to see you happy, not lost, like you're trying to find a corner in a circular room." A grin, a painfully familiar grin that brought memories of Marth grinning at her after their first kiss flooding back to her. "And unless you confront your fear for him, you'll never be able to save his life."

"I don't know where to go, what to do..." Tasha felt anxiousness fill her chest, cramping, warm and uncomfortable.

"As long as they don't die, Keturah will always be able to sense their presence. The three Mystics and Dranzer are on their way too, and they undoubtedly will help you."

"I don't know how I'll ever be able to look him in the eye again, after I shunned him, and let those _things _take him."

"None of that matters to him. All that matters to him is your safety, and your feelings for him." With that, he leaned forward and kissed her, and Tasha felt the warmth from the contact rush through her body, as though someone had just enveloped her in a comforting embrace. It was not Marth... and yet... she knew that this person was here on his behalf, and she prayed that wherever he was, Marth was dreaming of her, as she was of him.

"Take care, Tasha Reeves."

A blinding beam of light shot from 'Marth's body, and Tasha rose both her palms over her eyes to shield herself. When she next looked up, he was gone, and she was back in the tent with Kamali and Kai, who were also wide awake and staring around wildly, looking bemused.

-x-

After rushing around the village madly for twenty minutes, Mariah finally found Kurai and Lita sitting calmly in their temporary room, gazes locked upon each other, concentrating so hard there were veins visible on their foreheads.

"Kurai?" Mariah asked uncertainly, and the navy-haired boy's head snapped around, and his expression returned to normal.

"Yes?"

"... Where were you? Ray... 'Your grandfather', checked to see if you were in here half an hour ago!"

"We were sitting here the whole time. We don't wander around by ourselves, we're not allowed," Lita said, pouting slightly at her mother and father's strict rules.

"Please tell us where you are next time, then. And put a jumper on, both of you, it's freezing," Mariah said, grabbing the said clothing item from the twins' small bags of belongings, and walking over to tug them over their heads.

"You sound like my mother," Kurai snorted. "I thought we were coming here to get away from her."

Mariah pulled the maroon coloured jumper over Kurai's head, and could feel that his skin was freezing, and the back of his neck was slick with cold sweat. When she reached over to pull Lita's jumper on, she felt that her skin was damp too, but instead of being chilly and clammy like her brother's, her skin was boiling hot, far too warm for a normal human to be.

"Are you two feeling alright?" Mariah asked uncertainly.

"We're fine," the twins said; they sounded synchronized, robotic, and shockingly calm.

"If you're sure... please don't scare us like that again. We'd hate to have to tell your Mum and Dad that we lost you," Mariah grinned weakly, and walked calmly out of the door. However, when she rounded the corner, she broke into a run, trying to find Lee, Ray, anyone... and tell them the way she had just seen Kurai and Lita acting.

-x-

Kirra's shallow sobs were the only thing that broke the silence of the echoing, metallic room where she and Trin were still being kept.

They had no idea what was happening to Marth. They only thing they could do was feel his terror, his pain, and wonder what was going to be in store for him, and themselves.

Suddenly, the echoes of terror reflecting in their minds stopped, and they felt no presence in their minds that resembled their little brother at all. Kirra continued to sob, and Trinity bit down on her lip hard, until she experienced the familiar, metallic taste of blood over her tongue, in a desperate attempt to stop herself from screaming.

The door swung open, and Marth's body was thrown into the room, leaving a smear of blood across the metal floor where he had skidded for about half a metre. This time, Trin did scream, and she was aware that sound had escaped her throat, but she couldn't hear the echoes of her own cry. She could hear nothing at all, and see nothing but her little brother.

Marth was completely naked, and scarred horrendously across his back, his chest, his stomach, his head... his hair was matted with blood, and his entire body was smeared with it. Trin could see the beginning of the rough stitching where they had sewn him up after they were finished... oh god, she couldn't bring herself to think what they had done to him. His eyes were glassy, unseeing, his breathing very shallow, the gurgle of blood and saliva in every breath.

"Don't worry. He's not dead... yet."

The blonde-haired girl was back, and this time her grin was triumphant. Her usually spotless white lab coat was smeared with blood, their little brother's blood...

_"Bitch! What did you do to him?" _Kirra yelped.

"Don't worry about your darling little brother... we won't let him die. We won't let any of you die, you're much too valuable for that. All we did was simply take some of the elements we needed from the male side of your little Kintora trio from him, and run some tests..."

"_Whore_," Kirra hissed, her eyes flaring angrily at rhe woman, whose thin lips curved into a brutal smile.

"Now, now... at least he's the most of your worries... we only have to run half as many tests on you, because there's two of you."

"Oh my God," Trin whispered, her voice shaking. A sharp jab in the back of her neck made her gag in surprise, she felt her own limbs flailing violently of their own accord, and finally, she heard a mixture of her sister's scream, and another of Marth gurgling, laboured breaths...

And after that, only darkness loomed in her mind, for as far as she could reach...

-x-

A soft peck at Kai's cheek woke him, and he waved his hand irritably, brushing the offending object away. A harder peck this time, and Kai's arm flung out and made contact with something hard and smooth... one last, violent peck to his back and Kai sat up, scowling. It was only then, that he noticed the elegant red phoenix poking its head discontentedly through the tent.

"Dranzer!"

'I am here, Kai. So are Mysticala, Mysticisia and Mystellara. Keturah is also with us, waiting for Tasha to wake.'

Kai sprang into action immediately, throwing both his pillows at Kamali, causing the younger man to grunt and sit up, bleary-eyed and exhausted.

"Xao, the bit beasts are here! We can leave now!"

Kamali's eyes widened in understanding, and he stood up, and started yanking his clothes on. (AN: He wasn't naked . He was in his underwear. I can read your minds...)

"Reeves!" Kai hissed at the dark-haired girl. She sat up slowly; she had obviously already been partly awake when he'd called her.

"What is it, Hiwatari?"

"The Holy Beings have just arrived. We're leaving immediately, going to find Trin, Kirra and Marth with their help."

"If you needed a bit beast, why didn't you just ask me to ask Keturah?" Tasha wondered out loud.

"I wanted to make sure we had enough firepower to at least stand a chance. The security won't be light where we're headed."

Tasha nodded, packed all her belongings, including her currently bit-less beyblade into her duffel bag, and walked outside to help Kamali kick the tent pegs out of the ground. Kai packed his own, Trin's, Kirra's and Marth's belongings hurriedly, and dragged the heavy items out of the tent, just in time to see it collapse without the added support of the pegs.

The Holy Beings stood nearby, eyes watching the humans with some amusement. They were in their human forms, with the exception of Dranzer and Keturah.

"We shall carry Kintora's and your own belongings, and try to keep up," Mystellara said, gesturing slowly to herself and Mysticisia, a low mewling sound to her voice. "You shall ride with your own partners."

"Ehn... I don't _have _a bit beast," Kamali muttered sheepishly.

In an instant, Mysticala had returned to its beast form, and was grinning a feline grin at Kamali.

'My mistress cares about you very much, Xao Kamali, and it would be my honour to have you as my burden,' Mysticala stated, grinning even more widely when Kamali jumped at the sudden voice echoing in his mind.

Kai was already climbing onto Dranzer's back, gripping onto its glossy, slippery feathers and its oddly shaped shoulder joints.

Tasha got the gist, and slid onto Keturah's back, wrapping her arms as far around the black dragon's neck as they would go.

Kamali looked uncertain, but eventually climbed onto Mysticala's back and gripped large handfuls of its fur to keep balance. Mystellara and Mysticisia picked up the heavy bags with ease, and began to sprint to get a head start on their flying counterparts.

Dranzer suddenly took flight, its wings flapping with a slightly odd rhythm for a moment, before it got used to the added burden and began to glide with grandiose movements. Keturah followed suit, slithering into the air elegantly and dashing like a bullet through the air, stretched perfectly straight, the wind against its face. Mysticala leapt into the sky, and seemingly began to run mid-air. Kai felt the wind rush against his face, looked at his two travelling companions, and realized they were all thinking the same thing.

'Hold on, and be strong for us... for we're coming for you.'

-x-

Finally done! This fic will be coming to a close soon, with 16 chapters at the very most, I think. But don't worry, it was already longer than Future Hope before this chapter, so don't think I'm being unfair.


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